


Shelter me from the storm

by thelostsouls



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alec Lightwood Deserves Nice Things, Alpha Isabelle Lightwood, Alpha Jace Herondale, Alpha Luke, Alpha Magnus Bane, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Bad Parent Maryse Lightwood, Bad Parent Robert Lightwood, First Kiss, First Meetings, First Time, Fluff and Smut, Insecure Alec Lightwood, M/M, Mating Bond, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Omega Alec Lightwood, Protective Magnus Bane
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-10
Updated: 2019-09-03
Packaged: 2019-11-15 04:40:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 37,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18066752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thelostsouls/pseuds/thelostsouls
Summary: Alec is a Shadowhunter, the perfect soldier for the Clave. He dedicated his entire life to following their rules and be the perfect alpha son for his parents. Until biology betrayed him.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, this is my first attempt at writing anything related to alpha/omega dynamics. I've had the idea for the story for quite a while now and I decided to just start writing it down. I don't know how fast I will be able to update, life with two kids under three tends to get quite chaotic :) I am trying to set myself on a timeline of one chapter every two weeks, but I'm going to apologize already because I know I wont make that deadline every time.  
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy the story. It's not beta read so there will probably be mistakes as English is not my native language. 
> 
> Let me now what you think!

Alec had the same routine every day. Get up, get dressed, jog, have breakfast, work, have dinner, go to sleep. Repeat forever. 

Ever since he had presented as an omega three years ago, this was his life. 

His parents had been mortified when he had presented, given that there wasn’t a single omega in his family tree for centuries. The Lightwood family being very proud of their alpha-only heritage.

Robert and Maryse Lightwood had been horified when their eldest son had the audacity to present as an omega instead of the alpha they had expected. 

Alec could still see their faces when he had gone to them when he had first gone into heat. His father had averted his eyes, almost as if he had been too ashamed of Alec to even look at him. His mother had stared at him with wide eyes, anger and disappointment slowly invading them. 

She had stood ramrod straight in front of him and Alec had felt a shiver run along his spine. Even though he stood several inches taller then her, he had felt incredibly small under her gaze. 

When another wave of heat had rolled over him, he had curled in on himself and had wrapped his arms around himself in an effort to releave the pain. He had looked up at his parents with a plea for help clear on his face, but all hope of them helping him had vanished when he had seen the disgust on his mother’s face. His father hadn’t even turned around again to look at him. 

“Take care of this”, his mother had hissed at him and pointed at the door. 

When he had tried to ask her for help, pleaded even, she had closed her eyes and turned away too. Alec had shuffeled out of the room and closed the door, but not before he heard his father whisper. “Where did we go wrong Maryse? What did we do to deserve an omega for a son?”. Alec felt hot tears roll down his face and he took off, running through the empty halls of the Institute to his room. 

  


Since that day, his parents hadn’t talked to him exept to give him orders or blame him for everything that went wrong in the Institute. 

When Izzy and Jace, his siblings, had found out about his second gender and their parents’ reaction to it, they had been livid. They had stopped talking to their parents and tried to stick up for Alec whenever they could. 

They had both presented as alphas off course, but Alec couldn’t blame them. At least that way they were spared their parents judging and the suffering Alec had to endure. 

Alec was expected to not let his omega nature influence the daily routine in the Institute. According to his parents, the presence of an omega was disturbing to alphas, a nuisance, a burden. They had drilled this into their children’s head for as long as Alec could remember. He had grown up learning omegas were second class citizens, lesser than the superior alphas. Good for nothing except breeding and raising their children. 

Alec bought drugs to prevent his heat from taking place, because according to his parents it would distract the alphas when his hormones were running rampant. But it wasn’t healthy to delay his body such a natural thing for prolonged stretches of time, so every six months, he let himself experience a heat. In order to do so, he had to leave the Institute a week before his heat was due and he wasn’t to return until his heat was over, again as to not distract the alphas.

When his heat was due, Alec rented a small studio which was designed specifically for omegas to spend their heat in. The doors had extra locks and there was always security in the building, to keep single, unmated omegas safe from prowling alphas. Alec off course wasn’t allowed to bring anyone to help him through his heats. They were excruciating. Alec hated them and hated that he was an omega. 

  


“Alec”. His brother’s voice broke through his brooding thoughts and Alec snapped his head up to look at Jace. 

Whenever Jace used a tiny amount of alpha in his voice, Alec was powerless and couldn’t help but obey. He saw Jace send him an apologetic smile once he realized that he had been using his alpha voice. “Sorry”, he added. Alec shrugged and waved away the apology. No use in apologizing for something neither of them could change. 

“What’s up?”, Alec asked to divert the tension that had sprung up between them. 

“We have a mission”, Jace said while motioning at Alec to follow him. 

Jace was acting Head of the Institute. Normally, this had been Alec’s job and his parents had been drilling him to take their place as Head since he was fifteen. But off course, an omega couldn’t possibly be Head of the Institute, so his parents had given the job to his parabatai and their adoptive son. 

The fact that Jace was his parabatai was the only reason he was still allowed in the Institute, Alec reckoned. Although it wasn’t against the Law for an omega to be a Shadowhunter, there weren’t that many male omega Shadowhunters. Add to that his parents’ opinion on omegas, whether they be male or female, he would certainly have been deruned and forced to live as a mundane had it not been for his parabatai connection with Jace. It was against the Law to separate parabatai so where Jace went, Alec went. 

Alec felt like it was probably for the best that Jace was Head. Jace was better than Alec in every way. He was the golden boy; attractive, athletic, the perfect soldier. And an alpha. Jace was everything Alec would never be. 

  


They arrived in the opps center where they were met by Izzy, who would be joining them on this mission. 

Izzy and Jace were the only Shadowhunters who were still willing to go out on missions with Alec. Most of them didn’t want to get on his parents’ bad side and didn’t really mind Alec, but some thought about him the exact same way his parents did. No one dared to voice their opinion on Alec out loud though, with Jace as future Head of the Institute they would be put on cleaning duty for an entire month if he were to hear one bad word about omegas. 

Jace tapped something in the computer, causing the screen to light up in front of them. On the screen, a map of New York City was shown with red dots lighting up all over. 

“We’ve been getting reports that there are mundanes disappearing in the city”, Jace stated as he scrolled through the map. “The reports have come to us through Luke Garroway, he is a detective with the NYPD and also the leader of the Jade Wolf Pack. He suspects these disappearances are related to the Shadowworld, so he has sent over the relevant information so we can investigate.”, Jace continued.

Alec looked at the map carefully, trying to see if there was a pattern to the red dots on the screen, but at first sight they appeared to be random. 

“Why does he think the disappearances are related to the Shadowworld?”, Alec asked. 

“Because in every case, the mundane disappeared without anyone noticing it. In one case, a girl was taken from a movie theater without her boyfriend noticing it, even though he was standing right next to her. One moment she’s there, the next she’s gone. Garroway suspects a warlock is involved.”, Jace concluded. 

Alec nodded his head. 

“What’s the plan?”, Izzy asked, also looking intently at the screen.

“First of all, I have made an appointment with Luke at the Jade Wolf in an hour. I want to see what he’s got on this disappearances from his work as a police officer. And I want to see if he has any theories as to who could be responsible and why they are taking the mundanes.”, Jace said. “You guys okay with that?”, he asked and looked at both Alec and Izzy. 

Izzy nodded and Alec could see she was already planning ahead, anticipating possible problems and coming up with solutions. When Jace looked at him, he kept his gaze down as a sign of respect for the alpha. 

“Whatever you think is the right move, is okay with me Jace”, Alec said. It was not expected of him to formulate an opinion, let alone possibly go against the opinion of his superior alpha. 

Jace sighed and tipped Alec’s head back up. A shiver ran up Alec’s spine from the contact, but he kept his expression neutral. 

“If I ask for your opinion, I want you to give it to me”, Jace said while looking Alec in the eye. He used just a hint of alpha in his voice, so Alec nodded. 

“I’m okay with the plan.”, he said. 

“But?”, Jace asked.

“But… I think we should also try to get an appointment with the High Warlock of Brooklyn. To see what his opinion on this matter is and to see if he knows of anything related to this.”, Alec said quickly, afraid of angering Jace. 

Jace nodded. “That’s a good idea Alec, very good. I heard there is a new High Warlock in Brooklyn so we’ll have to ask the Clave for his contact information. I’ll send them a fire message right now. We’ll contact him after we’ve spoken to Luke.”, Jace concluded. 

“Let’s go”, Izzy said, and together they made their way out of the Institute. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First let me start by thanking you all for your kudos and comments :) It was very nice to see you liked the first chapter.   
> I had a little bit more time to write the last couple of days and I've finished the second chapter too. I can't promise I will be able to update as quickly as this every time, but I'll try my best.   
> Anyway, I hope you like the second chapter! Let me know what you think :)

They met up with Luke at the Jade Wolf, a Chinese restaurant that served as home base for the wolf pack. Luke was a tall alpha with broad shoulders, but Alec could see in his eyes that he was also a gentle soul. 

He greeted them at the door and gestured for them to enter with a sweep of his hand. 

When they entered the restaurant, they could see several members of the pack were lounging around, but all turned towards them when they caught their scent. 

Alec could tell most of them were alphas and he was having a hard time keeping his posture straight with all their hormones permeating the air. Being an omega, it was in his nature to want to submit to an alpha, but thanks to his parent’s stubborn belief that they couldn’t have possibly put an omega onto this world, Alec had been raised as a future alpha. Thus making it possible for him to keep up an uninterested façade against an alpha when they didn’t directly ordered him to do something. 

Them not only being outsiders, but Shadowhunters on top of that, put the werewolves on edge and Alec could see the restlessness in their eyes. He didn’t doubt that one wrong move on their behalf would result in a fight. 

Jace stared a few of them in the eyes as a display of his dominance. Even among other alphas, Jace had an air of authority around him and if he was challenged, other alphas would submit to him. 

Alec stood at the back and tried to make himself as small as possible, hoping no one would notice him. Off course he wasn’t that lucky as he saw one of the alpha males who was closest to him take a deep breath in through his nose, whipping his head in Alec’s direction. His mouth turned into a predatory smile as his eyes raked up and down Alec’s body appreciatively. 

“My, my, what’s a pretty little omega like yourself doing out all alone”, he drawled while sauntering over to Alec. 

Alec tried to remain impassive but couldn’t help his flinch when the wolf swept a finger over his cheek. He felt his breathing speed up and he knew his fear was changing his scent already.

Before the wolf could do something more, he had a seraph blade pressed against his wrist. 

“If you want to keep that, I suggest you take a step back and leave him alone”, Jace said in an even voice.

In a second, all the wolves were on their feet and had circled around the three Shadowhunters. Both Izzy and Alec took out their weapons as well and Alec was preparing himself for a fight when Luke growled at the wolves. 

The sound made Alec’s legs tremble and he had to grit his teeth hard to not bow his neck along with the other wolves, as a sign of submission. 

“Enough”, Luke ordered. None of the other wolves could resist the amount of alpha dominance in his voice and they backed off immediately. They kept glaring at them though. 

Alec was silently in awe of how Luke could reign in an entire pack of wolves on his own with just one word. 

He saw Izzy look at him from the corner of his eyes and he nodded, answering her unspoken question that he was fine. It didn’t matter anyway, his feeling weren’t important. 

  


Luke took them to an office at the back of the restaurant and closed the door. 

“Sorry about that, we tend to get territorial at the best times, but with the full moon approaching we’re a little more on edge”, Luke apologized. 

“Don’t worry about it”, Jace responded. 

As the Head of the Institute it was an unspoken agreement that he would be handling the talking. If Jace would have been unable to do so, the job would go to Izzy. Under no circumstance should Alec be the one to do the talking, that much his parents had made clear to him. 

“We’re here to gather more information about the mundanes who have disappeared over the last couple of weeks”, Jace continued. “We have been told that you know more about these cases from your work as a police officer, so we were hoping you would be willing to help us with this”. 

Luke nodded, his face serious. “Yes, off course I’ll help you. We’ve been trying to solve these cases for a long time now and we’re not making any progress so far. The people are getting restless and scared, thinking they could be the next target. The pressure is high for us to catch whoever is doing this, which will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, if I am right and a warlock is responsible for this”, Luke explained. 

“Why do you think a warlock is responsible?”, Izzy asked. 

Alec knew they already had that information, but maybe Luke would add some new bit they didn’t know yet. It was a smart tactic of Izzy to double check the information they already had. He gave her a small smile when her eyes met his and he could see hers soften at the gesture. 

When Alec had presented as an omega, his parents had put all their efforts into Izzy, determined that at least one of their biological children would do the Lightwood name proud. This had put a lot of stress onto Izzy’s shoulders and as a result of the constant training and the added pressure from their parents, Izzy no longer was the carefree, spontaneous woman she used to be. 

Alec blamed himself for that, even though Izzy assured him that it was their parents who were to blame and not him, and he tried to lessen the burden for Izzy by helping her where he could; doing her paperwork, cleaning her weapons, even doing her laundry or cleaning her room when she didn’t have the time to do it. Every time she told him he didn’t have to do this, but Alec needed to. He needed to make himself useful. Otherwise he would just be a burden to everyone. 

Hearing Luke’s deep voice pick up again shook Alec out of his thoughts.

“I’m not certain that it is a warlock, but it’s my best guess. Some of the mundanes who were witnesses to the disappearances told us that their friends or lovers just vanished into thin air. One minute they’re sitting in a movie theater, the next they’re gone. One minute they are walking to the kitchen to grab a drink, the next the roommate can’t find them anywhere and the doors are locked from the inside, windows still closed. I think a warlock is portaling these people somewhere for some reason. Either they need them themselves or they are working for someone else. As a police officer I can’t go and tell people this theory and I don’t have the means to investigate this myself, so I contacted the Institute. I figured you would be willing to help with this”, Luke concluded. 

“And you were right”, Jace said. “Can you tell us anything else about the victims?”, Jace continued. 

Alec saw Luke hesitated a bit before he answered the question. “There are eight victims in total, five women and three men”, he said. 

He glanced at Alec out of the corner of his eyes and when he saw that Alec was already looking at him, he threw him an apologetic smile. 

“They are all omegas”, he said grimly.

Alec felt as if he was doused in cold water. It couldn’t be a coincidence that all eight victims happened to be omegas. When you looked at the population as a whole, omegas made up only 5%, so to think those eight people just all happened to be part of a minority group was laughable. They were targeted specifically because they were omegas. 

Alec felt a little sick when he tried to think of reasons why someone would want eight omegas. 

“Are they… Do you think they’re taken for breeding?”, Alec asked with wide eyes. It wasn’t unheard of that an omega was kept by an alpha solely for breeding purposes, but what would an alpha want with eight omegas? 

Alec couldn’t stand the thought of being captured and used for what you were, for something you had no control over. 

In his distress he had even forgotten that he wasn’t supposed to be talking to Luke, who was his superior as an alpha. Not only that, but he had surpassed Jace as his superior too. 

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry alpha, I didn’t mean to talk out of line, I’m so sorry, I’m sorry, sorry,…”, Alec started babbling while he showed them both his neck as a sign of submission.

Izzy was next to him in a second, gently stroking her hands over his arms in a soothing gesture. “It’s okay Alec, you know we don’t think of you like that”, she murmured to him, trying to calm him down. Jace agreed with her but kept his distance, knowing that if he would come closer to Alec, this would only heighten his fear since he was the one Alec was currently freaking out about. 

Alec could see Luke frowning as if he couldn’t completely understand what was going on. Jace took him by the elbow and guided him away. Probably to explain what a bad omega I am, Alec thought to himself. 

After a couple of minutes Alec’s panic had ebbed away and he was able to function normally again. 

“You okay bud?”, Jace asked him while he clapped him on the back. 

“Yeah, sorry”, Alec mumbled.

“You know me and Izzy don’t share mom and dad’s outdated ideas, right? You don’t need my permission to talk or voice an idea. I value your input greatly Alec. We both know you should be acting Head and you have all the potential to do a better job than I am doing now”, Jace told him while looking him in the eye. 

He'd told this to Alec a hundred times already but it was very hard to believe the things Jace said to him when it had been ingrained in his head that he was lesser, not capable for all these years. 

“I know”, he whispered, “sometimes I just forget I know”. 

He gave Jace a weak smile. It was the truth after all. Jace and Izzy were the only two people with who Alec could truly be himself. When they were alone, he didn’t feel like an omega, he was just Alec. 

“Let’s get going yeah?”, Jace said, “we need to plan our visit to the High Warlock”. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I've managed to write another chapter. I'm completely surprising myself with this as I thought it would take me a lot longer to update. The next few weeks will be busy at work so I'm not sure I will be able to update as regularly as the last couple of days.

As it turned out, getting an appointment with the High Warlock was easier said than done. 

They tried calling him, but the number that was in his Clave file wasn’t connected. They tried sending a fire message but they didn’t get a reply. In the end they decided it was best to drop in unannounced and just wing it.

This wasn’t Alec’s favorite choice of plan, being a firm believer of planning things through, but even he had to admit that it was impossible to plan this visit. 

Since you didn’t just drop by a Warlock’s lair uninvited, Izzy had used her connections in the Downworld to find out where the High Warlock would be that night and she had found out that he owned a club in the city. It was a club for Downworlders, but apparently mundanes also visited it.

Jace and Izzy were ecstatic at the prospect of going out, even if it was a work trip. They had taken advantage of the situation and had called their respective mates to ask them out on a double date, completely bypassing the fact that Alec would be the fifth wheel. 

Jace and Izzy had met their mates at approximately the same time. Jace had met his mate, a beta named Clary, two years ago on a mission when they were hunting down demons in an alley behind a bar. Just when they had killed the last of them, Clary had come out of the back exit of the bar to get some fresh air. Alec hadn’t been bothered because they were all glamoured, but Clary had taken one look at the body on the pavement, which she wasn’t supposed to be able to see, and she had screamed. Jace had told Alec and Izzy to take care of the clean-up, while he had taken the little redheaded girl with him. Alec had assumed he would try to persuade her into thinking she hadn’t seen anything, but the next day he had brought the girl with him to the Institute. Apparently she was a Shadowhunter who had been raised in the mundane world. And not just any Shadowhunter, but the daughter of Valentine Morgenstern, whom the Institute had defeated when Alec was just a child. His wife had taken their daughter and disappeared when he had made his intentions of killing the entire Downworld clear. 

It only took two days for Alec to see that Jace was completely besotted with the tiny red head and that those feelings were mutual. 

Even though he hadn’t liked Clary in the beginning, she had grown on him and he liked having her around now. Her calm presence balanced perfectly against Jace’s extravert nature and since she was a beta Alec wasn’t bothered by her scent like he would be around an alpha. 

With Clary came Izzy’s mate Simon, also a beta. He was a mundane and Clary’s childhood best friend and apparently where she went, Simon went too. Simon was the complete opposite of Clary. Where she was calming and soothing, Simon was hyperactive and extremely talkative, going on and on about some mundane movie called Star Wars. Izzy and Simon had bonded when he had been turned into a vampire and had been forced to say goodbye to his family. 

Both Jace and Izzy changed after meeting the two betas, becoming more gentle and calmer. Their entire life started to revolve around their significant others and Alec on more than one occasion had to swallow down his jealousy when he saw how completely and utterly happy they all looked when they were together. 

A year ago both Jace and Izzy had made their bond official by exchanging mating bites. They had both ensured Alec that they would still be there for him, but Alec couldn’t help but admit that he longed for the care of an alpha, _his_ alpha. He had never spoke these desires out loud because he knew that no Shadowhunter would ever want him as a mate. It was best to bury his wishes and keep his focus on his job, although it got harder and harder to ignore them. 

  


Alec was lying on his bed, fucking around on his phone a little bit when Izzy entered his room, without knocking as usual. 

Alec looked over at her and raised his eyebrow. 

“What?”, she asked confused. 

Alec pointedly looked at the outfit, or lack thereof, she had put on. “Please tell me you forgot the rest of your outfit in your room”, he told her, not caring he sounded like an overprotective big brother. Someone had to. 

She was wearing some sort of wrap around bright red dress that had a plunging neckline and ended about 10 inches too high from where Alec would have loved to see it. To top off her outfit she was wearing 6 inch stiletto heels.

“Come on Alec”, she huffed, “you wouldn’t know a stylish outfit when it bit you in the ass. Which, evidently, is why I’m here”. 

Alec just stared at her blankly. “Um, I’m already dressed Iz”, he said whilst motioning at his clothes. 

“Exactly”, Izzy said with an eyeroll. “You can’t go out with us dressed like that”, she said while she walked over to his closet and started rummaging through it. 

“What? Why not? I wear these clothes all the time”, Alec exclaimed. He really didn’t want to be dressed up by Izzy. She always tried to put him in clothes that made him feel uncomfortable, claiming he needed to "strut his stuff" to attract an alpha. 

“Exactly!”, Izzy shouted, still half buried inside his closet. “You need to get out of your comfort zone Alec”, she said while holding up a blue button-up shirt in front of him, eying him critically. 

“You know there’s a reason they call it a ‘comfort zone’ right? Because it’s comfortable, as in no need to get out of it anyway”, Alec retorted while he batted her hands away from where she was trying to style his hair. 

“Come on Alec, please”, Izzy pleaded with her best puppy dog eyes. She knew Alec couldn’t resist them. 

“All right”, he sighed. He knew Izzy would get her way, like she always did. If he caved now it would be over quicker. “But just the clothes! Don’t even think about getting your make up anywhere near me!” he shouted while Izzy squealed and ran out of his room, presumably to get more supplies to torture Alec with. 

In the end, Izzy dressed him up in tight black jeans, the blue button-up shirt and his own combat boots (“See, I let you keep something from your comfort zone”). She not only styled his hair but also put product in it and lined his eyes with black eyeliner. 

Alec had made a lot of fuss about it, but inwardly he kind of liked how it had turned out. 

They met up with Jace at the entrance of the Institute. “Not a word”, Alec told Jace with a glare when he saw the other one was about to make a remark on his appearance. Jace held up his hands in defense and zipped his mouth with his finger, trying to stifle a laugh. 

  


About half an hour later they arrived at Pandemonium, the club owned by the High Warlock. 

From what they heard from the Clave, he was over four hundred years old and he was rumored to be one of the most powerful warlocks in the world. His father was one of the Princes of Hell so Alec assumed that had to count for something as far as power goes. According to the Clave, he also was an unmated alpha, something they found very disturbing for someone that old. Alec had rolled his eyes when he had read that piece of information. In the eyes of the Clave, everything and everyone that didn’t follow their set upon rules and regulations, was to be deemed highly irregular and cause for investigation. He had wondered about the reasons someone chose to stay unmated for that long though. 

They spotted Clary and Simon in front of the club and joined them, Jace and Izzy sporting matching wide smiles when they saw their mates. Alec tried unsuccessfully to quell another pang of jealousy and longing. 

When they entered the club, loud music assaulted Alec’s ears and he went temporarily blind from the flashing lights. “How are we supposed to find him in here?”, Alec shouted over the music. 

Jace shrugged his shoulders and threw his arm over Clary’s shoulder. “Let’s mingle a little”, Izzy shouted back. “Maybe someone who’s here knows who he is”, she continued while already dragging Simon with her towards the dancefloor. Simon looked more than willing to follow her.

Alec wanted to protest but he saw Jace was also heading towards the dancefloor with Clary. 

He sighed and headed over to the bar. He wasn’t much of a drinker but he figured he could use the liquid company. He signaled the bartender for a beer and settled on one of the empty barstools.

It was moments like these that Alec felt the loneliness even harder. What he wouldn’t give to be able to share these experiences with someone who looked at him the way Jace looked at Clary, like she had the answers to all his questions, like she personally hung the moon and the stars in the sky. When he was younger, he had dreamt about finding his perfect mate, someone who completed his soul. Later, when he had hit puberty, he had realized that whenever he dreamt of his perfect mate, he dreamt of a man, whereas all the other boys his age dreamt about girls. Before he had presented, he had figured maybe this wouldn’t be such a big problem because as long as he found a male omega to mate, he could still give his parents grandchildren. But then he had presented as an omega himself and all his dreams about the perfect mate had vanished, because who in their right mind would want Alec as their mate, when there were so many other and better options out there. Who would want someone whose parents didn’t even love because of who he was? 

Suddenly, a deep velvety voice startled Alec out of his brooding thoughts, “What’s a pretty boy like yourself doing here all alone?”. 

Alec blinked up from where he was looking at his beer and stared into two golden cat eyes. They were the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen and they belonged to the most beautiful man he had ever seen. The man was tall and slender, dressed in tight black jeans that was artfully ripped all over so his muscular legs were showing in several places. On top he wore a deep blue button up that was unbuttoned almost all the way, glimmering necklaces adorning his exposed chest. His eyes were rimmed with black eyeliner and his eyelids were painted a pale blue, matching his shirt. 

But what caught Alec’s attention the most was his scent, his _alpha_ scent, that seemed to wrap itself around Alec and made him feel all tingly. 

Alec felt heat rush to his cheeks and he tried to string words together into something resembling the English language, but what eventually came out was a lot of stuttering. It made the beautiful man laugh though and oh, it would become Alec’s life mission to make this man laugh all the time. 

“Let’s try that again shall we”, the man said with a smile. “I’m Magnus Bane”, he said while he extended his hand towards Alec. 

Alec looked at his hand and the many rings around his fingers and gripped it in his own. “A-Alec”, he said with a shy smile. The moment their hands touched, Alec felt like he had gripped a live wire. He had never felt anything like it before and he almost whined when Magnus released his hand. 

“It’s nice to meet you Alexander”, Magnus replied. “Tell me, what brings a Shadowhunter to a Downworlder club on a Friday night?”, he asked while he signaled the bartender who promptly delivered some sort of colorful cocktail to Magnus.

“Oh. Um. I – We’re on a mission”, Alec stuttered. 

Magnus didn’t seem to mind though, as he rested his chin in his elbow to listen as if Alec was telling some sort of eloquent tale instead of just barely being able to make sense. “A mission? How fascinating!”, Magnus answered with a wink. “Please tell me there aren’t any demons running rampant in my club”, he added. 

Alec was getting lost in trying to determine the exact color of Magnus’s eyes that he almost missed it. 

“Wait, what? Your club?”, he frowned, “I thought that this club was owned by the High Warlock of Brooklyn”. 

“High Warlock of Brooklyn at your service darling”, Magnus said with a bow and a flourish of his hands. 

Alec tried and failed not to blush at the term of endearment Magnus had just used. 

Just as Alec was about to explain why they were looking for Magnus in the first place, Jace and Izzy appeared next to him.

“Who are you”, Jace demanded while he looked at Magnus. 

Alec rolled his eyes at his brother’s behavior. This always happened when they went somewhere with a lot of alpha presence; Jace became extremely protective of Alec and anyone who looked at him for a second too long became subject to the Jace Wayland inquisition. As if Alec was some sort of damsel in distress who needed to be rescued. But off course society would think that right? Because of his omega status. Izzy on the other hand watched Alec and Magnus with a smile and when Alec looked at her, she winked.

“Who am I?”, Magnus retorted incredulously, “ _I_ am the High Warlock of Brooklyn and owner of this club. _You_ however seem like an obnoxious Shadowhunter, so tell me, why are you wasting my time with stupid questions when I could be spending it talking to Alexander?”. 

Jace narrowed his eyes at Magnus and Alec could see where this was heading. Not wanting Magnus to be put off by Jace’s behavior, he quickly interspersed. “This is Jace, my brother and parabatai”, he told Magnnus. “And this is Isabelle – Izzy – my sister”, he introduced Izzy too. 

Magnus took hold of Izzy’s hand and kissed her knuckles slightly. “Lovely to meet you dear. I can see your family has been blessed with good genes”, Magnus said.

“Likewise”, Izzy answered with a grin, “You’ve got to excuse my brother, he’s kind of protective of Alec”.

“No offence taken”, Magnus replied easily.

“Anyway”, Jace said loudly, “we came here to ask you some questions, Warlock”.

Alec cringed inwardly when he saw the narrowing of Magnus’s eyes. Jace didn’t mean harm, but they were all raised to think of Downworlders as lesser people. Kind of on the same level as omegas.

“Is that so?”, Magnus replied coolly. 

“Yes, we are investigating a series of mundane omega disappearances and we believe a Warlock is responsible. We need you to check on your people to see if someone is doing some shady business”, Jace told him.

Magnus raised himself from his barstool and even though Alec could tell he was angry, Alec still thought Magnus looked extremely graceful while doing it. 

“First of all, I don’t _have_ to do anything for you Blondie. And second of all, I don’t police my people like you Shadowhunters seem to do.”, Magnus said icily. “I will however see if I can find out something about these disappearances”. 

Jace seemed unfazed by Magnus’s little outburst. “Good. Please inform me when you find something”, he said. 

Magnus sat back down again and traced the rim of his glass with his finger. Alec couldn’t help but follow the movement with his eyes, wondering how those fingers would feel against his skin. Wait, what? Where did that thought come from? 

“Oh I will”, Magnus said. “Now, if you’d excuse me, I was having an interesting conversation with Alexander”, Magnus said while he turned to Alec, smiling. 

Alec frowned. Why would Magnus find him interesting? Unless he was just looking for an omega to hook up with for the night. Yeah, that was probably it, Magnus just wanted sex from him and nothing more. He was probably already bored with Alec, just waiting for the right moment to suggest they move to somewhere more quiet. 

His thoughts must have shown on his face because Magnus put his hand on top of Alec’s arm. “Darling are you all right?”, he asked concerned. 

“I.. I don’t want to have sex with you tonight”. He said it quickly and immediately turned bright red when he realized what he had just said. 

“What?!”, Jace exclaimed, “Are you trying to use my brother, Warlock? Think he’s an easy prey because he’s an omega?”. 

“I beg your pardon”, Magnus practically shouted. “What kind of man do you think I am? I would never, _never_ , use someone just for my own pleasure. And above that, I would never take advantage of an omega like that. Omegas aren’t meant to be used for sexual favors, they are meant to be treasured.”, Magnus said with disdain. 

Alec felt himself withdraw at the display of so much alpha dominance. Jace and Magnus both tried to get the other to submit and in doing that, they emitted a lot of hormones. A high pitched whine escaped his throat and both Magnus and Jace turned to him. 

Magnus stepped closer to him and put a hand on his arm to calm him down. “Hey, Alexander, look at me, it’s okay”, he cooed.

In the background he could see Izzy dragging Jace away, looking over her shoulder at Magnus and Alec with a smile. 

Alec released a shuddering breath and tried to get himself back under control. “I’m sorry. I- I should go”, he said. 

Magnus looked at him with tender eyes. “I understand you would want to be alone right now. I just want you to know that I really enjoyed talking to you tonight, interruptions by your rude brother included. I would like to see you again. Not for sex”, he clarified fast, “but to get to know you”. 

While he was talking to Alec he was slowly rubbing circles into Alec’s wrist and Alec felt such a rush of warmth, he almost felt dizzy from it. Could he have this? 

“I would like that too”, he replied. 

At that, Magnus beamed at him and produced a card from his back pocket. “This is my personal number. I don’t go and hand it out to just anyone”, he said with a conspiratorial wink, making Alec chuckle slightly. 

Alec took the card and looked up at Magnus, who stood up from the bar stool. Magnus took his hand in his and grazed his knuckles with his lips. “I’m looking forward to your call, Alexander”. Alec was never washing his hand again. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Firstly, I updated the tags!  
> Second, Jace will be a real ass in this chapter but I promise he isn't a bad guy, he's just doing this out of concern for Alec ;-) 
> 
> Thank you all so much for the comments! I hope you like this chapter! It's a little shorter than the other ones, but the next one will be longer and from Magnus's point of view.

The next morning Alec made his way to the Opps center for mission debrief. The night before he had returned home by himself, not even bothering to check up with Jace and Izzy. He needed some time alone to think things through and to process everything that had happened. And he had to admit, he still felt a little angry at Jace for the way he had treated Magnus at the club. 

Magnus. 

He had to admit he felt a little swoony every time he thought of the alpha. 

Alec had put his card with his phone number in his pocket and his hand kept wandering to it every few minutes. Last night when he had climbed into his bed, he had took out the card and smelled it. To his delight, a hint of Magnus’ delicious scent had clung to it and he had inhaled deeply. His dreams had been invaded by haunting yellow eyes and a heavenly scent. 

When he arrived at Opps center he saw Jace and Izzy were already up. They stood in front of one of the computer screens and were pointing at something Alec couldn’t make out yet. When Izzy spotted him, she squaled and bounded over to him. 

“Oh my god Alec, you have to tell me everything!”, she gushed. 

Alec looked at her confused. “Tell you everything about what?”, he asked. 

Izzy rolled her eyes while she hit his shoulder. “Everything about Magnus off course! What happened yesterday? Did you kiss? Are you going to see him again?”

“What? No! Nothing happened. We talked and I left, that’s it”, Alec said.

Izzy’s face fell a little, but she rebounded quickly. “That’s ok, because you’re going to see him again, right?”

Alec didn’t know how to answer that. He did want to see Magnus again, but the question that kept gnawing at him was whether Magnus wanted to see him again. Off course he had given him his number, but why would he want Alec to call him? He probably could get any omega he wanted.

"I- I don’t know Iz, can you please drop it”, he added quickly when he saw Izzy was gearing herself up to press him some more.

“Fine”, she sighed, “but I was looking forward to having him as my brother-in-law. That guy’s fashion sense is out of this world”. 

Alec blushed at the thought of Magnus being Izzy’s brother-in-law and suddenly he saw a crystal clear picture: himself and Magnus, cuddling on the couch, sporting matching mating bites on their necks, wedding bands on their fingers while two kids came running at them laughing. He felt a pang of longing in his heart so strong it almost brought tears to his eyes and he more than ever wanted to find an alpha. 

No, he wanted _Magnus_ to be his alpha. He didn't know where that feeling came from, only having met Magnus yesterday but he couldn't ignore how he felt 

“Alec”, he heard Jace’s voice, snapping him out of his thoughts. 

He looked up and saw that Jace was looking at him with an expression that fell somewhere between anger and worry.

“Where were you last night?”, Jace demanded, pushing just a hint of alpha in his voice and making it so that Alec couldn’t help but answer.

“I was with Magnus at the club for a little longer and then I went for a walk before coming home”, he said with a little anger in his own voice. “Do I need to report my every move to you now?”, he added with a sneer.

Jace stepped a little closer to him and Alec could see his eyes harden. “You know I worry about you. That Warlock could have easily taken advantage of you”, he said.

Alec bristled at Jace’s insinuations that Magnus could have hurt him. He didn’t know Magnus, had barely talked to him for a half hour last night, but there was something about Magnus that made Alec trust him.

“Come on Jace, he wouldn’t do that, you heard what he said yesterday at the club”, Alec said while he walked over to the computer screens showing demon activity in the city. It looked to be a slow morning. 

Jace followed him and turned him around by his arm. “Alec, look, you don’t see things the way other people see them. You believe in the good in people, while I know that most people are anything but good”, he said. 

“What do you mean by that? I don’t see things the way other people see them? What makes me so different then?”, Alec demanded. He could feel anger rising in him and if Jace was implying what Alec thought he was implying, he knew he wouldn’t be able to stay calm.

“Alec, Jace didn’t mean anything by it”, Izzy interrupted their argument while she looked pointedly at Jace, willing him to stop it. But Jace apparently didn’t notice, or didn’t want to notice, because he pointed a finger at Alec before continuing his rant.

“Come on Alec, you know that omegas are more gullible than other genders. You get one alpha giving you a little bit of attention and you go and fawn over him? You don’t see that he only wants one thing from you and as soon as he gets it, he will dump you. And who will be there to pick up the pieces when you fall apart? That’s right, me.” 

Alec saw red at that. It was the first time Jace had used his omega status as something to control him, as something that made him weak and powerless, needing the support of the stronger and better alpha that Jace was. He heard Izzy take a sharp breath in and he saw that she was looking between the two of them with worried eyes. 

“Jace”, she started but Alec interrupted her. “Is that right”, Alec asked Jace, trying to keep his voice as calm as possible, even though on the inside he was screaming at the injustice.

“Come on Alec, don’t make this a bigger deal than it already is. I’m just trying to look out for you.”, Jace tried to placate him.

“Right”, Alec said, “just trying to look out for me huh? Since when don’t you trust my judgement anymore?” Alec could tell Jace was starting to lose his patience with him. 

“Your judgement in this matter can’t possibly be trusted since your mind is probably overflowing with hormones at the moment!”, he all but shouted. 

Alec took a step back at that, feeling as if Jace had just slapped him. Was this how Jace thought about him? As some sort of hormone-driven being, uncapable of making his own choices and decisions? Did Jace just humor him when he asked about Alec’s opinion on something?

Jace seemed to realize that he had crossed a line and he tried to reach out to Alec. “Alec, you know I didn’t-“, he started, but Alec didn’t let him finish, pointing at Jace with one finger. He had to grit his teeth hard and lock down his jaw to keep it from trembling. He was going against all his omega instincts by practically challenging Jace, but he had never felt this kind of injustice before

“Don’t”, he said in a low voice. “I can handle it when strangers assume that I will just bend over for any alpha who looks at me the right way. I can handle it when mom and dad assume that I’m a liability because of what I am. But I thought-“.

He had to take a deep breath and he knew they would hear the tears in his voice as he could feel them prickling in his eyes. He blinked them away. “I thought you, as my brother, my parabatai, were different. I never thought you would think of me like this.”, he finished before turning around and heading towards the front doors of the Institute.

Jace tried to grab him by the arm, but Alec wrenched himself free, his inner omega whining at the thought of upsetting an alpha. “Leave me alone”, he said menacingly while turning around again.

As he pushed open the doors of the Institute he could hear Izzy yelling at Jace but he didn’t care anymore. He activated his Speed and Invisibility runes and took off, taking the streets of New York two at a time, determined to put as much distance between himself and the Institute as possible. 

  


He didn’t know how long he had been running or where he was anymore at this point. The sun had long ago disappeared behind the clouds and it had started raining. He was soaked to the bone since he left the Institute without his leather jacket. 

His anger had vanished and had made way for guilt. He could feel Jace’s worry through their bond and he could clearly imagine him and Izzy worrying about him. There was still enough anger in him though that stopped him from turning around to go back to the Institute already.

Alec slowed down to a walk and looked around, recognizing the neighborhood he was in. He was two blocks away from Pandemonium, so he guessed his subconscious was already trying to get him closer to Magnus again. He debated whether he could go over to Pandemonium to see Magnus or if it would be better to call in advance, when a Ravener demon came out of an alleyway a couple of yards in front of him. 

Normally they never patrolled alone so they would have back up in case of, well this, but Alec guessed he could take on one demon by himself. 

He preferred his bow and arrow, but he had left them in the Institute this morning. He did however have his Seraph blade with him, so he quickly took it out and crouched down in a fighting stance. 

The demon spotted him and advanced towards him. Alec drew back and tried to find a way to get to it, ducking and rolling under its claws. He quickly spun on his knees and slashed his blade, effectively decapitating the demon and it exploded with a spray of black ichor. Alec wiped his blade on his pants, wondering why the demon was there. 

As he debated calling for backup to search the neighborhood for more demons, five more Ravener demons appeared all around him. Suddenly, Alec felt fear creep up his spine at the thought of fighting five demons all by himself. He knew his chances of escaping this without a scratch were slim.

He whipped out his stele to activate his Stamina rune and gripped his Seraph blade tighter and tried to ready himself for the battle. One of the demons advanced towards him and he dodged to the left, trying to land a hit. The demon managed to evade getting hit though and Alec saw another one coming at him out of the corner of his eye. Quickly altering his position, he managed to deflect it’s attack, already taking position against the following.

Alec felt as is he was dodging attacks for nearly two hours, when in reality he had only been fighting them for five minutes. He could feel he had already burned through his Stamina rune. His attacks became less coordinated, his dodges a little slower. 

When he tried to swipe under the claws of one of the demons for what felt like the millionth time, he wasn’t fast enough and the demon struck him. 

The hit caused him to lose his balance, allowing another demon to strike him in the chest. The impact made him fly backwards where he crashed against the side of a building. He landed in a heap on the floor and he knew by instinct he had broken his leg and probably fractured a couple of ribs. 

He saw the demons gather around closer to him. Since he had presented, there were times in a fight when a little voice in the back of his head had suggested he didn’t dodge an attack. Or to miss a target when he shot an arrow. It was ironic that the time he did get hurt in battle, he hadn’t meant to. The thought made him huff out a laugh that came out as a pained groan thanks to his injuries. 

He readied himself for the final attack but when the demons just stood there, waiting, he frowned. Why weren’t they attacking? 

Just as the thought crossed his mind, he saw a blast of blue sparks appear in the chest of the closest demon and it burst into flames. A quick succession of sparks followed and the other demons disappeared back to Edom as well. 

Alec blinked his eyes, trying to focus his eyes to see where the sparks had come from. He heard someone shout out is name and the next minute he was staring into bright cat-like eyes. 

“Magnus?”, he whispered, already feeling more calm.

Magnus brushed his sweat stained hair from his head with one hand, while pouring magic into his body with the other. “I’m here, darling”, he whispered.

“Magnus, the demons”, he started, because the odd behavior of the demons wouldn’t leave his mind. 

“Shh, sweetheart, I’m here, you can relax. I’ll take care of you”. Those words ingrained themselves into Alec’s brain as he let them sink in. Even though he didn’t know Magnus at all, he felt so safe enveloped in his arms, with his scent curling all around him.

He could feel himself drift off, but before he could drop into unconsciousness completely, he saw a portal opening from the corner of his eyes. His vision was blurring at the edges, so he couldn’t really see who was stepping out of it, but he could tell they stopped in their tracks when they saw Alec and Magnus. Alec thought he could see the figure making an annoyed huff before disappearing back through the portal. 

Before he could say something about this to Magnus, unconsciousness claimed him and everything went black, the only thing remaining was the calm and serene feeling he was starting to associate with Magnus. 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for your comments!  
> This chapter is from Magnus's point of view, hope you enjoy it!  
> Also, who asked for protective Magnus? :D

Magnus was pacing around in his living room, pressing his phone to his ear. “Come on, come on”, he muttered to himself. 

When he heard Cat pick up the phone, he heaved a sigh of relief. “Cat, thank God you picked up!”, he exclaimed. 

Cat was one of his oldest friends, but more important right now, she was also a nurse at the local hospital. Magnus could preform healing magic, but it wasn’t his specialty and since Alexander was still unconscious he started to worry that he had done something wrong. 

“What’s wrong?”, Cat asked him through the phone. 

“You remember I told you about the Shadowhunter omega I met at the club the other night, right?”, Magnus said. He had told Cat about Alexander the minute he got home from the club. “Well, I was at the club tonight too when I felt a disturbance of the wards around it. Not like there were actual demons _in_ the club, but close enough to alert me of their presence.”, he started. Magnus loved having phone conversations with Cat. When she felt it was something serious, she never interrupted him. “I went outside to check it out and when I turned a corner I smelled him Cat!”. 

“Smelled who? The demons?”, Cat asked. He could almost picture her face in front of him, looking at him like he had lost his mind. 

“No off course not the demons Catarina. Alexander! I smelt his incredible smell and it drew me towards him.” He knew his voice sounded dreamy when he was talking about Alec. “I found him on the ground with five Ravener demons standing around him, ready to pounce any second”. 

He felt a chill run along his spine when he thought back to that horrifying moment. It had frozen him in his tracks for a couple of seconds when he realized that it was Alexander who was surrounded by demons. Seeing him there, lying on the ground and unable to defend himself had triggered every alpha instinct in his body. There had been a constant mantra of _protect omega mine protect_ going through his head. What if he had been there a minute later? What scene could he have walked into then? It hadn’t even taken one second to decide what he had to do. He had quickly disposed of the demons and all but ran over to where Alexander was lying on the ground. Magnus had felt so incredibly relieved when he had seen he was still conscious, he had even said a couple of words. 

Cat pulled him out of his reverie. “Did you asses his injuries?”, she asked in her best nurse voice and Magnus could tell she had shifted to her professional mode instantly. 

“Yeah. He was conscious when I got to him, but just barely. When I checked his body with my magic I found he had a broken bone and a cracked rib and a couple of bruises and scraps, nothing really major. I healed them with my magic, but before I could finish he had lost consciousness and he still hasn’t woken up Cat!”, Magnus all but yelled. What if he had done something wrong? Or overlooked something major and Alexander was bleeding out or something. 

“It sounds to me like you did everything right Magnus. It’s not unusual for someone to remain unconscious after dealing with something like that. It gives the body time to heal. He’d probably been fighting them before he got injured too, so he probably was exhausted already. Throw his injuries on top of that and it’s highly likely he’s just sleeping off everything. I recon he’ll be fine”, Cat explained, soothingly. 

Magnus stopped pacing and let himself fall into his favorite armchair. He knew she was probably right, but he couldn’t help but let a whispered “What if he’s not?” escape his lips. 

“Oh Magnus, you’re really already hung up on him aren’t you?”, she asked him silently. Magnus didn’t even bother to reply. His silence would tell her enough.

“Do you want me to come over and check him myself?”, Cat asked him gently. “I’m at the hospital right now, but I can probably take a break in fifteen minutes or so”, she said. 

He rubbed his hands through his hair and over his face, thinking. “No”, he sighed eventually, “I trust you when you say he’ll be fine and that he’ll be waking up. You don’t have to drop everything you’re doing at the hospital just for me”. 

“You know there’s nothing wrong with asking for some help Magnus, even if the help you need is just someone to talk to”, Cat said. 

Asking for help had never been Magnus’s forte. He preferred wallowing on his own over bothering his friends with his problems. Cat’s words put a smile on his face though, making him feel grateful for having such an amazing friend. “Thank you Catarina, I really appreciate the gesture. I promise we’ll have a cocktail night soon to catch up. I feel like I haven’t seen you in ages”, Magnus said.

“I’m keeping you to that, you know. Gotta run now, but call me if anything comes up. I can be in your apartment in five seconds if you need me.”, Cat added. 

“I will”, Magnus promised, “Now go save some lives”. 

“Love you, bye!”, Cat said and hung up the phone. 

  


Magnus let his head fell backwards and sighed, running his hands through his hair for the millionth time that night. He didn’t want to know how he looked at the moment, hair in complete disarray from raking his hands through it, make-up completely smudged. But it all faded in comparison to the thought of losing Alexander. He didn’t get how the omega had managed to draw him in so completely after just one meeting, but he felt as if something that had been buried deep inside him had started to wake. For more than a hundred years he had closed himself off to feeling something. After the whole Camille-debacle he had deemed himself unfit to make decisions in the love department, given that he always seemed to set himself up for heartbreak. But when he had laid eyes on Alexander, something about him had comforted him, had given him hope. 

“He’s bewitched me, Chairman”, he told his cat as the tiny feline jumped on his knee and started to purr. Magnus gave the cat a few pats on his head. “I should probably go and check up on our patient, don’t you think?”, he asked the cat. The Chairman meowed once and jumped off his legs, making his way to Magnus’s bedroom. Magnus swore that cat understood every word he said. Sometimes he even wondered if he had taken in a shifter when he had found the Chairman. 

He dutifully followed his cat and peered into his bedroom. Alexander was still lying on his bed where Magnus had deposited him little under a half hour ago. Even though he was still sleeping, he was tossing and turning and his face was scrunched up. Magnus silently walked over to the edge of the bed and gingerly sat down, trying not to disturb Alexander’s sleeping form, the Chairman trailing behind him and curling up at the end of the bed. 

He debated with himself what to do to make Alexander calm down. He gently laid his hand on his forearm and to his surprise, Alexander instantly calmed down. It seemed like he tried to get closer to Magnus, even in his sleep. Magnus’s inner alpha preened.

Magnus let his eyes wander over Alexander’s form, taking in every inch of him. He truly was beautiful, Magnus thought. With his raven hair and his stunning hazel eyes, which were now sadly hidden from him, Magnus thought he was the most beautiful creature he had ever laid eyes on. It didn’t hurt either that Alexander was built like a tree, tall and muscular, and Magnus couldn’t wait to climb that. But all in good time, he thought. 

He gently swiped Alexanders hair away and took in his face. Even though Alexander was still beautiful, Magnus could see dark circles under his eyes as if he hadn’t been sleeping well for a long time. He also thought Alexander looked as if he hadn’t been eating properly either. He frowned at that. 

“What are they doing to you in that Institute darling”, he muttered to himself. He had heard about the Shadowhunter’s ancient prejudices against omegas, but they wouldn’t go as far as to deny him food now would they? 

He had never quite understood why Shadowhunters thought of omegas as lesser creatures. In his opinion, omegas were meant to be treasured and kept safe.

He gently stroked one finger along Alec’s jaw and chuckled a little when Alec scrunched up his nose in his sleep. He smiled to himself when he thought about how precious his Alexander was. No, not his, he thought.

He sat with Alexander for a couple minutes in comfortable silence when an insistent knocking on his door made him jump up a little. He hurried out of his bedroom, afraid the noise would wake up Alexander. 

  


When he reached his front door, he threw it open wide, ready to accost whoever dared to disturb his evening. He didn’t quite know what he had expected, but he certainly wasn’t prepared for the sight that met him. In his hallway stood three Shadowhunters and a vampire. It’s almost like the beginning to a bad joke, Magnus thought to himself. 

He recognized the Shadowhunters as Alexander’s siblings, whom he had met the night before. The vampire seemed a little familiar, so perhaps he was one of Raphael’s. The third Shadowhunter he didn’t know, but she gripped the obnoxious blonde brother tight to her, so he guessed they were mated.

Before Magnus could voice his surprise, the blonde one – James? – staggered forward a little and growled at Magnus. “Where is he?”, he said menacingly, although the threatening effect was lessened a lot given that he had to lean on his mate as much. He clutched a hand against his right hip. 

Magnus raised his eyebrows and looked at the alpha Shadowhunter in front of him. “I beg your pardon?”, he said, aiming for polite but it probably didn’t come across that way. 

“Where is Alec?”, the other alpha gritted out, “I tracked him here, so where is he? What have you done to him?”.

Magnus was seething. “I didn’t do anything to him _pup_ ”, he all but growled, raising himself up to his full height.

Before things could escalate, Isabelle stepped forward a little. 

“Look Magnus, we don’t mean any harm here, but Jace can feel that Alec is injured through their bond. So if there is something you want to tell us about that, it would be greatly appreciated”, Isabelle said. 

She had clearly been asleep when Jace had woken her about Alec, because she was wearing a weird combination of sweat pants and a pajama top. Her hair was tied in a messy bun on top of her head and she was clearly worried. 

Magnus sighed and gestured for them to come in. Isabelle had been fairly nice to him the previous evening, so he would just ignore the blonde one and deal with the girls.

“I found Alec earlier this evening”, he said to Isabelle, “He was surrounded by demons and he was injured”. 

When he saw she was about to panic, he quickly continued. “I disposed of the demons and healed him. Because he had lost consciousness I brought him over to my apartment so he could rest”.

Isabelle seemed to calm down a bit after hearing that. She clutched his hand in hers and looked him in the eyes. “Thank you Magnus. For taking care of my brother. We had a falling out earlier in the morning and he left the Institute. When Jace came into my room and told me Alec was hurt I thought the worst. I would never forgive myself if anything had happened to him”. 

Magnus felt a little humbled at the amount of gratitude he could see in her eyes. Somehow he didn’t think she just thanked him for taking care of him that specific moment, but that she was aiming at more. 

She took a step back and grasped hands with the vampire, who soothingly began rubbing her arms. It surprised Magnus, Shadowhunters weren’t exactly known to mate with Downworlders. Perhaps Alexanders family was different, he hoped.

"Thank you Magnus", the vampire turned to him, extending his hand. "I'm Simon, by the way, I'm Isabelle's mate and I belong to Raphael's family. I heard a lot about you". 

Magnus shook his hand. "Nice to meet you. It's comforting to see a Shadowhunter mated to a Downworlder. Perhaps I'll live to see a better understanding between all species after all.", Magnus said, inclining his head towards Simon and Isabelle. 

"The new generation of Shadowhunters is a lot more tolerant these days", Simon said while he gazed into Isabelle's eyes. "Her parents don't like me though", he added with a little laugh. 

"Who are you, biscuit?", Magnus asked the other girl. 

"I'm Clary Fray", she said with a smile and Magnus instantly liked her. She made a move to shake his hand too, but Jace pulled her behind her with a growl. 

"Relax Blondie", Magnus said while he rolled his eyes. The alpha was getting on his nerves. 

“I want to see Alec”, Jace said.

It looked like he was clutching his hip a little less, so perhaps he could sense that Alexander was recovering too. 

Magnus rolled his eyes at the younger alpha. “Fine”, he said with a wave of his hands, “but he’s sleeping right now, so I’m warning you, do not wake him up because I will not tolerate anyone disturbing his recovery”, he added while he glared at Jace.

He motioned for them to follow him towards his bedroom. When he opened the door he could immediately see Alec tossing and turning on the bed again.

Jace started growling softly at the sight and he snapped his eyes towards Magnus. “You told me you had healed him”, he said angrily.

Magnus was at a loss for words. “I did and he was sleeping calmly when I left to answer the door”, he snapped back. His worry over Alexander caused him to be more harsh than he would have otherwise been. That and he just couldn't help himself when Jace was concerned.

Magnus made his way to the bed, ignoring Jace, and sat down next to Alec again. He stroked through his hair and started murmuring words to him. 

Jace made a move of walking over towards them but Isabelle held him back. “No Jace, look”, she whispered in wonder as Alec started to calm down, leaning into Magnus.

Magnus calmed down himself when he felt the omega relax under his touch. He kept looking at Alec while he said to the four of them gathered in the doorway, “I think it’s best if you left for the night”. 

Jace off course started to protest loudly the second the words left Magnus’s mouth. Magnus had to take a few deep breaths so he could remain calm, Alexander needed him calm.

“Blondie, could you please keep quiet? You’re disturbing your brother”, he said while he glanced over at Jace with clear annoyance. 

He focused his attention on Isabelle and Clary, deeming them more capable of dealing with the situation. “Alexander is resting, I don’t suspect he’ll be waking up very soon. I promise I’ll keep him safe. I promise I’ll call you if something changes. Now please, go home and sleep so he can rest”, he pleaded. 

He could see Isabelle was being thorn between wanting what’s best for her brother and wanting to protect him herself. She kept looking between Jace and Alec with a worried look on her face. In the end it was Clary who took them both by their hands and started steering them towards the front door.

“Magnus is right, we can’t do anything for Alec here. Let’s go home and rest”. It looked as if Jace was about to start arguing with her, but she cupped his jaw and let him scent the inside of her wrist to calm him down. “We’ll come back first thing in the morning”. 

At that she looked at Magnus and he could see it wasn’t a request. They would be barging into his apartment first thing in the morning. Magnus rolled his eyes and nodded at her, still stroking Alec’s hair softly. Isabelle and Jace looked over their shoulder a couple more times and Jace whispered vehemently at Magnus, “He better be okay when I come back in the morning, Warlock”, before Clary had them ushered out of the door. 

He heard the door close with a soft click and he exhaled deeply. “You have quite the protective family darling”, he said softly to Alec. 

Feeling the exhaustion of the evening catch up with him, he decided to lay down next to Alexander for a while, still keeping skin-to-skin contact the entire time. 

“Please get better”, he whispered while he pressed a soft kiss to Alec’s forehead. The omega let out a quiet sigh at that and shifted a little closer to Magnus. Magnus let Alec’s deep breathing and his scent lull him to sleep, whishing he could fall asleep like this every night.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the kudos and comments! I hope you're liking the story so far. I have the outline planned in my head, but I'm not sure how many chapters there will be.  
> Let me know what you think!
> 
>  
> 
> There are some lines quoted directly from the show, so off course all credits go to them.

When Alec drifted back into consciousness, the first thing he became aware of was an overwhelming sense of safety. He had never felt like this in his entire life.

The second thing he became aware of was the scent that enveloped him, a combination of sandalwood, ginger and wood smoke, invading his senses and making him all warm and tingly. He unconsciously nuzzled closer to the source of the scent and inhaled deeply, feeling the calming effect of the it all the way to his toes.

He had just made the decision of trying to go back to sleep, given that he was lying on the most perfect pillow in the world, when the pillow shook. Pillows weren’t meant to shake, did they?

Opening his eyes, frowning, Alec looked at the pillow expecting to see something fluffy, but instead was met with a broad expanse of golden skin. His frown deepened and let his eyes drift up, meeting a pair of golden-green cat eyes.

Oh. 

Now wasn’t that a sight to behold first thing in the morning, he thought, before he froze. 

Now that he was fully awake, he noticed that he had wrapped himself around Magnus completely while he slept. His head was resting on Magnus’s chest, his right arm wrapped around Magnus’s waist and one of his legs thrown over both of Magnus’s. 

He quickly dislodged himself from Magnus and in his haste to get more space between them, nearly fell of the bed.

Memories from the previous night came rushing back and Alec curled in on himself when he remembered that Magnus had needed to save him. He couldn’t even save himself, Alec thought, what a weak and pathetic excuse of a Shadowhunter he was. And now he had gone all clingy on Magnus while he slept.

Alec didn’t dare look at the alpha, fearing what he might see in his eyes. Pity maybe, or disgust that Alec had wrapped himself all around him. His own scent would be clinging to the bedsheets too, a distraction the alpha certainly could live without. He wasn’t aware of the mantra of “ _sorry, sorry, sorry_ ” that was coming out of his mouth in a constant loop, until Magnus gently placed a hand on his arm. Alec flinched away immediately, trying to make himself look even smaller as to not be a burden to Magnus. “I’m sorry, I’ll go, I’m sorry, I’m sorry”, he kept repeating himself. 

“Alexander”, Magnus started but Alec didn’t listen to him, to busy apologizing. “Alexander, stop”, Magnus said again, this time infusing just a little hint of alpha in his tone.

Alec’s jaw snapped shut with an audible click and he heard Magnus sigh. “I’m sorry I had to do that”, he said. “Do you think you can look up at me?”, he asked next. 

Alec debated what he should do. Magnus hadn’t given him a direct order, so he didn’t _have_ to look up, but it sounded like Magnus would really like it if he did.

Reluctantly, he looked up and Magnus actually beamed at him for doing so. It confused Alec. Shouldn’t Magnus be annoyed with him?

“How are you feeling darling?”, Magnus asked him gently.

Alec started fidgeting with his fingers, trying to figure out what Magnus wanted from him. He looked down at the bed sheets again and tried to find words that would please Magnus. He scanned his own body and found he didn’t actually hurt, but his ribs felt a little sore. Would Magnus think him weak if he admitted it?

He was working himself in circles and he felt his breathing pick up when Magnus once again placed his hand on Alec’s arm. This time he didn’t flinch back but he snapped his eyes up to look into Magnus’s. He expected to find annoyance there, or even anger, but what he was met with was compassion.

“Relax darling, you can tell me, I wont get angry”, Magnus said soothingly. “I just want to make sure I healed you properly last night”, he added.

Alec got more and more confused. Why wasn’t Magnus yelling at him? He gritted his teeth in frustration at his lack of understanding of the situation. Alphas were meant to be annoyed with omegas, right? 

When he kept silent, Magnus’s eyes turned sad. “What have they done to you?”, he whispered softly, rubbing gentle circles in Alec’s forearm. 

Alec cast his eyes down again, not knowing what to tell Magnus.

“Please tell me if you’re hurting Alexander”, Magnus asked pleading.

Alec shook his head the tiniest bit. “’m not hurt”, he whispered. “My – my ribs are a little sore though”, he added still looking down. He mentally prepared himself for Magnus’s reaction over his confessed weakness. What he didn’t expect was for Magnus to keep rubbing his arm and say he was proud of him for telling he was hurt.

Alec blinked a couple of times, trying to understand. “You’re not”, Alec started but had to swallow a couple of times before he continued. “You’re not angry?”, he asked confused.

Magnus looked startled. “Why would I be angry?”, he asked. 

“Because I’m weak!”, Alec practically shouted at Magnus. Why wasn’t Magnus getting this? “Because you should be appalled by me, having to rescue me last night. I’m a burden!”, Alec continued. 

Finally Alec saw something flicker in Magnus’s eyes that he thought was anger. He knew Magnus being so understanding was too good to be true.

“If it wasn’t for you being in my bed right now, I would march to Idris and burn the Clave down for the misguided and frankly horrifying thoughts they’ve put into your head”, Magnus said in a low voice. “You’re going to sit and listen to me Alexander”, Magnus said, cutting him off when Alec tried to get in a ‘but’. “No buts, I talk and you listen”, Magnus said firm.

Alec nodded his head in obedience while Magnus took both his hands into his own. Alec tried not to preen at the feelings that touch elicited.

“Omegas are not weak.”, Magnus started, enunciating every word. When he saw Alec was about to protest again, he threw a firm look his way and Alec swallowed his response. “Omegas are not weak”, Magnus repeated more softly, “I don’t know what kind of bigoted, outdated ideas the Clave has but I can assure you, they are wrong”.

Magnus looked into his eyes and Alec didn’t know for sure what he saw there, but suddenly his eyes turned sad. Magnus sighed.

“I wish you could see yourself as I see you, Alexander. You think you are weak because I healed you last night? You want to know what I thought?”, Magnus asked, not even waiting for Alec to reply. “I thought what a skilled fighter you must be to have stood your ground against five demons all on your own. I thought what a sense of determination you must have for not even giving up when you were clearly outnumbered.”, Magnus told him, his eyes shining.

Alec didn’t know how to react to his words, he wasn’t used to being complimented by anyone.

“I never, not for one second, thought you were weak because you needed help, Alexander”, Magnus said fervently, “Anyone in your situation would have needed help, whether they were an omega or nor, and there is nothing wrong with that”. 

Alec swallowed hard. He wanted to believe Magnus because objectively he knew he wasn’t weak. When he was training with Jace he could hold his own and sometimes he even won. But when he thought about himself like that, he could hear his mother’s sneers of how weak he was, what a burden to the Lightwood family. 

“I’m going to make it my life’s mission to get you to see yourself the way I see you, Alexander”, Magnus vowed to him. 

Alec couldn’t do anything other than just nod along. Magnus smiled at him and squeezed his arm.

“Now, would you like some breakfast?”, he asked Alec. “I make a mean Belgian waffle”, he added with a wink. 

Alec couldn’t help but let a small smile creep up his face. “That sounds nice” he said. 

Magnus got out of the bed graciously and held out a hand for Alec. Alec hesitated a second but eventually reached out and grabbed Magnus’s proffered hand, letting him drag him along into the kitchen.

Magnus deposited Alec onto a barstool at the breakfast bar and told him to just sit there and let Magnus work his magic, pushing a cup of hot coffee in his hands. Alec wasn’t used to being pampered like this and felt a little uncomfortable about letting an alpha serve him like this. 

“Stop thinking so loudly Alexander”, Magnus tsked him, “I want to do this for you so just let me”. 

Alec threw an apologetic smile in Magnus’s direction and carefully took a sip of his coffee, sighing. He looked around the kitchen, taking in the modern features and the high-tech appliances.

His eyes were inevitably drawn back to Magnus, watching him stir the waffle batter. Alec watched Magnus’s muscles bunch up when he stirred and he felt saliva pool under his tongue. He wondered how it would feel to be held by those arms. Feeling himself reacting, he quickly tried to get himself in check before his scent would betray his arousal. Judging by the meaningful look Magnus threw his was, his attempt had not been successful and he blushed bright red. Thankfully Magnus didn’t comment on it.

They had a wonderful breakfast together and Alec really couldn’t remember when he had ever felt this relaxed. He was just trying to come up with ways to allow him to stay longer, when there was a knock on the door.

Magnus got up and walked over to the door. “I forgot to tell you, your siblings came by last night. I told them to come back in the morning, so it’s probably them”, Magnus explained.

Alec didn’t know how he felt about his siblings seeing him in such a state the previous night.

When Magnus came back, Jace and Izzy were indeed trailing along behind him. They wore matching concerned expressions and as soon as they saw him, they rushed over towards him.

“Oh my god, Alec, are you all right”, Izzy fussed over him while she tried to feel his temperature and check him for injuries all at the same time. Jace didn’t say anything but Alec could feel his worry through their bond. 

He batted Izzy’s hands away while explaining that he was fine. Magnus came to stand behind him and Alec thought he should not find his presence this comforting already.

“We were so worried about you!”, Izzy continued. “We ran after you after you left yesterday morning, but we couldn’t find you. We figured you didn’t want to be tracked either, but then Jace felt you were injured”.

When she mentioned their worries over him disappearing, Alec felt guilt creep up. He had caused that. If he just hadn’t been so emotional yesterday, if he hadn’t run away. Jace hadn’t said anything that he hadn’t heard already anyway. Ever since he was little, his parents had told them how weak omegas were and how they were lesser creatures. When he had presented they had made sure he knew what they thought of him. 

“I’m sorry”, Alec whispered. He felt Magnus’s hand squeeze his shoulder. Jace looked annoyed at that and Alec rolled his eyes. He didn’t look so petulant whenever Jace touched Clary right? Luckily, Jace dropped it when Izzy elbowed him in the arm and gave him a meaning look.

“Please tell us what happened Alec”, Jace said. 

Alec hesitated, because telling the story meant having to tell he had been weak and needed help, right? Magnus’s words from earlier drifted back into his mind: it’s okay to need help sometimes. Alec looked at Magnus, who squeezed his shoulder in reassurance again.

Launching himself into the story, Magnus started busying himself with getting refreshments for Jace and Izzy.

When he finished his story, Jace was pacing a little. “I don’t get it”, he said after a while. He stopped and started drumming his fingers on the breakfast bar. “I don’t get why the demons didn’t attack you”. 

Izzy looked at him with a thoughtful expression. “It is odd behavior for demons, I’ll give you that”, she said. 

“Maybe it had to do with the Warlock?”, Alec asked. 

Izzy looked at him puzzled. “I thought you said the demons were already surrounding you before Magnus showed up?”

“No, I don’t mean Magnus”, Alec said impatiently. He glanced over at Magnus and he saw a relieved look come over his face, like he was glad Alec wasn’t referring to him as ‘The Warlock’. “There was another Warlock there. When Magnus was healing me, I saw a portal opening and a Warlock stepped out. I couldn’t see who it was or even it was a male or a female. They stepped back through when they saw Magnus was healing me”, Alec explained. 

Magnus frowned and looked deep in thought. ”I didn’t see anyone”, he mumbled.

“Wait, so you mean that five demons attacked you but they didn’t kill you. They just stood there guarding you and then an unknown Warlock appeared?”, Jace asked, looking incredulous.

Izzy was looking at Alec worriedly too. “Alec, do you think it was the Warlock we’re trying to catch?”, she asked him silently. Alec hadn’t thought about that.

“Oh”, he just said. He didn’t know how to feel about that. Did the demons target him just because he was an omega? Magnus started rubbing circles in his lower back again, trying to comfort him. Alec shot him a grateful look. 

“I will try and find out if anyone in the Warlock community knows anything about this”, Magnus said to Jace and Izzy.

Izzy smiled at that, but Jace just rolled his eyes. “Don’t think you can sway Alec off his feet that easy”, he said. Alec bristled and felt annoyed Jace was bringing this subject up again.

Before Magnus could say something that would, without a doubt, start another alpha pissing contest, Alec stood up from his barstool. 

“Stop it Jace”, he said annoyed, ignoring his inner omega whining because he was talking back to an alpha. “I can make my own decisions about Magnus. I don’t need you to rescue me”. 

It looked like Jace wanted to say something but Izzy cleared her throat loudly. 

“Anyway”, she said, “Since you are healed and feel better, I think it’s best we return to the Institute to try and track this Warlock”. 

Alec felt a pang of disappointment at the thought of leaving Magnus’s apartment. He felt so safe there, nothing like how he felt at the Institute. Reluctantly he followed Jace and Izzy to the front door.

“Thank you Magnus”, Izzy said while she kissed Magnus on the check, “for saving Alec”. Jace didn’t actually thank Magnus out loud, but Alec thought he glared a little less menacingly at him so there was that.

Magnus followed them to the door and looked at Alec with a longing in his eyes that Alec was sure was reflected in his own.

Izzy cleared her throat. “We’ll wait down stairs”, she said with a smile at both of them. “What? Why?”, Jace started to debate, but Izzy just pushed him out of the door.

Alec stood there awkwardly. He didn’t know how he should end this, this, whatever it was. 

“I had a lovely time with you”, Magnus said softly. “Even though the evening didn’t start as I would have planned it”, he added. 

Alec chuckled at that. “What do you mean? Killing demons isn’t your idea of a perfect date?”, he said before catching himself. He looked at Magnus with wide eyes, afraid Magnus would take it the wrong way, but he just smiled at Alec. 

“Not exactly, no”, he said while he fiddled with the cuff on his left ear. “If you want to find out what I actually do on a date, maybe you can find out tonight?”, he added looking a little nervous. 

Alec thought it was adorable that Magnus, the big strong alpha, could be nervous about asking him out on a date.

“I would love that”, Alec said, smiling as Magnus beamed at him. 

“I’ll see you tonight then. I’ll text you”, Magnus said while he pressed a gentle kiss to Alec’s cheek. Alec blushed bright red and he stuttered out some syllables. 

Magnus reached for the doorknob behind Alec, effectively putting himself in Alec’s personal space. “Goodbye Alexander”, Magnus breathed against his skin. Alec had to clear his throat and swallow hard before he could manage a goodbye of his own. 

When he stood in the hallway, he couldn’t help the wide grin that spread over his face. He had a date with Magnus.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is up! Maryse is a bitch in this one. Jace is starting to come around and the first date!

When Alec had met up with Jace and Izzy outside of Magnus’s building, Izzy immediately pounced on him with questions. Were they going on a date? Did Alec like Magnus? Did Alec _like_ like Magnus? Did he want Magnus to be his alpha? 

Alec had thrown an exasperated look in Jace’s direction, but he had held up his hands in an ‘hey man, you’re on your own in this’ gesture. Alec didn’t like the idea of Jace not liking Magnus. He knew Jace was only trying to look out for him. He only showed it in all the wrong ways. 

After they researched rogue Warlocks for a couple of hours, hoping to find the one Alec had seen, and coming up empty they had called it a night. Jace and Izzy had gone on a date with their mates and Alec had returned to his bedroom. 

  


He was sitting on his bed when a knock sounded at the door. Alec frowned, because the only people who usually came to his room were out at the moment. He folded the page of the book he was reading to mark its place and reluctantly got up from his bed. He had been rather comfortable. 

He opened the door just a sliver to peek out and his eyed widened in surprise when he saw his mother standing on the other side of the door. She never came up to his room, not even when he hadn’t presented yet. His mother was a firm believer that children needed discipline and order, not cuddles. 

He opened the door wider for her and nearly shrank back from the look in her eyes. She looked him up and down with disdain in her eyes.

“Why am I being told by your colleagues that you have found an alpha?”, she asked him strictly. 

Alec fidgeted with his hands and just stared at her wide-eyed. He didn’t know what to say. Was she pleased he had found someone? That seemed unlikely, especially because if she knew he had found someone, she probably knew _who_ too and Alec doubted his mother would be prouder of him if he mated a Downworlder.

“Um”, he started but she cut him off with a wave of her hand. “Don’t bother with an explanation”, she hissed, “I know who it is too”. 

‘Called it’, Alec thought gloomily.

“I can’t believe you’re debasing yourself to be a Downworlder’s whore”, Maryse sneered. “Don’t you care anything at all about the honour of this family’s name?”, she practically yelled. 

‘No’, Alec thought, but he knew better than to say it out loud.

“It wasn’t enough you had to shame us in front of the entire Clave by being an omega, but know you want a _Downworlder_ to be your alpha? And what Downworlder! Magnus Bane Alec? Really? You know he probably only wants you to spread your legs and when he’s done with you, he’ll toss you aside like a piece of garbage”, Maryse raged on. 

Alec flinched away from her harsh words but he didn’t say anything. 

Maryse had infused her tone with so much alpha, he couldn’t help but submit. He whined in the back of his throat and exposed his neck to her as a sign of submission. 

She huffed out a laugh at that. “I can’t believe you, you’re a pathetic excuse for a Shadowhunter. No wonder that Warlock thought you were easy prey”, she added. 

With those words, she turned on her heel and left him standing in his door alone. It took Alec a couple of seconds to gather himself up again and make it back into his bedroom. 

He went straight for his bed, ignoring the book he had been captivated by mere moments ago and climbed under the sheets. He pulled them up all the way to his neck and tried to get his hands to stop shaking.

Every time his mother did this to him, he thought he’d gotten used to it, that he wouldn’t react as strongly. But every time he was struck by a feeling of loneliness and sadness that he wasn’t enough for the one person who should love him unconditionally. If _she_ couldn’t love him, how was anyone else supposed to? He tried to keep the tears at bay, but in the end they always won and he let them flow freely, crying himself to sleep. 

  


When he woke up the next morning, he had a pounding headache and he wanted nothing more than to just bury himself beneath the blankets again. 

He cursed himself for letting his mother get to him and dragged himself out of bed and rushed his morning routine in the bathroom. He was the first one down in the training room and he vowed to himself that he would train until he could show his mother that he was more than just an omega.

It was there that Jace found him later that morning, rubbing his hand over his parabatai rune. 

“Dude, how long have you been going at it?”, he groaned, “I can feel your soreness through the bond”. 

Alec didn’t reply and kept hitting the punching bag. The bandages he had used to tape up his hands were nearly gone and he could see his knuckles were starting to crack. 

When he didn’t respond, Jace walked over and stepped between him and the punching bag. Annoyed, Alec tried to get around Jace, but Jace stubbornly stayed where he was. 

Huffing in annoyance, Alec turned around on his heels and grabbed a bow from the nearby weapon rack. If Jace wouldn’t let him punch something, he was going to shoot arrows into something. Jace followed him to the archery range and watched him hit target after target in silence. 

“Are you just going to stand there the whole day?”, Alec asked without looking at Jace. 

“No”, Jace replied, “only until you tell me what’s going on”. 

Alec debated whether he was going to continue ignoring Jace, but he knew Jace really wouldn’t give up. He sighed and lowered his bow. “Mom came to my room last night”, he mumbled. 

Jace gave him a sympathetic look. He knew enough of how Maryse treated her son to not need anymore explanation. 

“You can’t let her get into your head Alec. You’re so much more than what she thinks of you. _Magnus_ thinks more of you than that”. 

If Jace was willing to use Magnus as a way of coaxing him out of his mood, he must’ve looked worse than he thought. It worked though, because the mere mention of Magnus’s name brought a smile to his face. 

”Since when are you Magnus’s number one fan?”, Alec asked teasing. 

“Since Izzy gave me a very thorough list of arguments why it’s a good thing that he shows interest in you”, Jace answered. “I’m trying to keep my protective side under control. I know you can take care of yourself. If you trust Magnus, I trust you”, he added. 

  


Before he had to go and meet Magnus, he thought up about a thousand reasons not to go through with the date, but in the end not one of those outweighed the one reason to effectively go through with it: Magnus. 

Alec had very carefully chosen his outfit for the night (or rather, had let Izzy choose his outfit which had been accompanied by a lot of shrieking and squealing). In the end, he thought he looked fairly presentable in his ripped black skinny jeans, his navy blue button-up shirt and his combat boots. Izzy had done something with his hair that made it, miraculously, behave and she had begged him until he had let her put some make-up on his face to give him some color. 

They had agreed to meet up in an Ethiopian restaurant Magnus seemed to like at 7PM. Alec had left the Institute at 6, desperate to be there on time, which ended up with him being half an hour early. 

Because he didn’t want to wait inside on his own, he walked the block a couple of times, praying he wouldn’t run into Magnus because he would die of embarrassment if he had to explain what he was doing. 

At 7PM sharp, he saw Magnus making his way across the street and enter the restaurant. 

Alec took a couple of deep breaths and headed over to the restaurant too. When he entered, he saw that Magnus was already seated and was doing something on his phone. Alec felt his own phone vibrate in his pocket and checked it, only to see it was a message from Magnus telling him he was at the restaurant. It brought a smile to Alec’s face and he made his way over to Magnus’s table. 

“Me too”, he said when he got there, startling Magnus a little bit. 

“Alexander, so lovely to see you”, Magnus smiled while he let his eyes rake over Alec. Alec couldn’t help but blush at the slightly predatory look Magnus got when he was looking at him. 

“You look edible”, Magnus smirked at him. 

What was anyone supposed to reply to a statement like that? “Um, thanks?”, Alec said, “You um, you look really great”.

Magnus was wearing a blue silk shirt with gold embroidery and a black dress pants. The usual necklaces and rings adorned his neck and hands and he had streaked his hair with blue to match his shirt. 

Alec hesitatingly took a seat and looked around the restaurant. The patrons existed mostly out of other alphas and a few betas, no omegas in sight. Alec noticed that most of them were also Downworlders. Just as he was about to ask Magnus whether they would be okay with a Shadowhunter coming into their restaurant, Magnus started to silently growl. 

Alec looked up at him and he saw Magnus was looking rather menacingly at something behind Alec’s back. When he glanced over his shoulder, he could see that several alphas had stopped eating and were looking at Alec with various looks on their faces. 

Alec turned back towards Magnus and silently called his name. Magnus seemed to snap out of his staring contest and looked back at Alec, blushing slightly. 

“I’m sorry Alexander”, Magnus said, “I just couldn’t deal with them eye-fucking you like that” he finished grumbling. 

Alec tried to suppress the flock of butterflies that had gathered in his stomach. “Um, that’s okay, I’m used to it”, he chose to mumble. It wasn’t Magnus’s fault that Alec was such a distraction. “Well, you shouldn’t be”, Magnus replied almost petulantly. 

“Let’s not let them ruin our night, shall we”, he added with a little smile. 

When the waiter came to their table, Alec told Magnus to order for the both of them since he had never eaten Ethiopian before. Magnus ordered a couple of dishes to share. 

While they waited for their food, they talked a little bit, mostly things to get to know the other person a little bit better. Magnus told Alec some stories about things he had done years ago and about his best friends Catarina and Ragnor. Alec in turn told stories about growing up with Jace and Izzy and all the stupid stuff he had to rescue them from. 

When their food came, Alec was feeling a lot more relaxed than at the beginning of the evening and he realized that he was actually enjoying himself. Magnus explained a little bit about all the dished and encouraged him to try them.

Alec tried a curry-looking dish Magnus had told him was his favorite and immediately had the urge to spit it back out. He had never tasted anything like this and he didn’t like the taste at all. 

When Magnus looked at him expectantly, he smiled and gave Magnus a thumbs up. He couldn’t tell him he hated the dish right? Magnus had told him to try it and to say he didn’t like it would be disrespecting the alpha. 

Magnus however figured out pretty quickly that Alec didn’t really like the food. After about a dozen apologies, Alec managed to say he wasn’t exactly a fan. It took Magnus quite some time to convince him that he wasn’t mad at Alec, but in the end they managed to get back to their pre-meal conversation. 

After the meal, Magnus invited Alec up to his loft and since Alec didn’t want the date to end already, agreed.

When they entered the loft, Alec immediately felt calm. The loft was permeated with Magnus’s scent and Alec inhaled deeply. There was a certain feeling about the loft, Alec thought, it almost felt like _home_.

Before he could think about that more, Magnus pressed a glass of _something_ in his hands. It was a blue drink and on top of it were dancing blue flames. 

Magnus clicked their drinks together and took a sip. Alec mimicked him and tried the blue liquid. He immediately began coughing from the taste of alcohol. 

Magnus worriedly patted him on the back. “Are you okay?”, he asked Alec. 

“Fine”, Alec managed to wheeze out between coughing fits. “This- this is really good”, he said to Magnus, again afraid to offend the alpha. 

Magnus plucked his glass out of his hands and placed in on the coffee table. He then pushed Alec down until he was sitting on the sofa. 

“Alexander”, Magnus started and he took Alec’s hands in his, “There is nothing wrong in telling me you don’t like something. I noticed at the restaurant you didn’t like the food and I noticed now that you didn’t like the drink. What do you think will happen if you tell me that you don’t like something?”, Magnus implored. 

Alec didn’t know what to tell him, didn’t want to tell him, but somehow he heard himself say “Leave me”.

He slammed his hands in front of his mouth and looked up at Magnus with wide eyes. He didn’t just confess to that did he? This was what his mother had warned him about, he thought. Magnus would get fed up with his neediness and would dump him. 

Magnus’s eyes softened and he started stroking patterns into Alec’s hands. “Oh darling, you couldn’t get rid of me if you wanted to”, he said silently. 

Alec involuntarily smiled at Magnus when he heard the alpha’s words. He also heard his mother’s voice telling him Magnus would only use him for sex, but he tried to push that thought to the back of his mind. He didn’t know Magnus for a long time, but something about him made Alec trust him. He didn’t seem like the kind of person to take advantage of someone else. 

Magnus smiled back when he saw Alec’s smile and they fell into a comfortable silence.

“Do you want to watch some TV?”, Magnus suggested. 

Alec shrugged his shoulders. They didn’t have a television in the Institute and unlike Jace and Izzy, Alec didn’t stream Mundane series on his phone. 

“I don’t normally watch TV”, Alec confessed. 

Magnus looked baffled. “Like, never?”, he asked incredulously. 

Alec just shrugged his shoulders again and tried not to blush under Magnus’s gaze. 

“It’s a good thing I was going to ask you out on another date anyway, because now we absolutely have to have a movie night”, Magnus exclaimed. 

Alec couldn’t hide the smile that spread over his face at Magnus’s words and he relaxed into the couch as Magnus started to search the channels for something to watch. 

When Magnus had found something he deemed suitable, he nestled himself closer to Alec and smiled up at him. Alec smiled back and blushed. 

Several episodes of Project Runway later, Alec reluctantly told Magnus he had to go home. Magnus had, just as reluctantly, agreed and had walked him to the door. 

“I had a wonderful time tonight Alexander”, Magnus said while he tucked a strand of hair behind Alec’s ear. The gesture made the swarm of butterflies in Alecs stomach rear up again. 

“Me too”, Alec said smiling. This time he didn’t just say it to please Magnus and he hoped Magnus could sense the difference too. 

“I really hope we can do this again some time”, Magnus continued. 

“Yeah”, Alec replied. He was sure he was looking at Magnus with some dopey smile on his face, but at the moment he didn’t really care. 

“Can I call you?”, Magnus asked him. This startled Alec a little. Before Magnus, no one had ever asked his consent for something. They just ordered him to do something when it involved work-related issues or they told him that alphas would never ask for consent of an omega when it involved sex or mating. Magnus, on the other hand, had never ordered him to do something. 

He was looking at him expectantly, but not pressuring him. It really was all up to Alec. 

“Yeah”, Alec said swallowing, suddenly overpowered with emotion when he realized Magnus was actually treating him like an equal. “Yeah, I would like that”, he said. 

Magnus smiled at him and kissed him gently on the cheek. “Get home safely”, he added. 

“I will”, Alec answered without moving away from the door. 

He really wanted to kiss Magnus, but he didn’t know how to bring up the subject. Instead he just looked at Magnus longingly, hoping he would understand. It seemed his desire was evident in his eyes because Magnus slowly leaned in towards him and pressed his lips against Alec’s. 

For a second Alec froze. Not out of fear, but because all of his emotions were overwhelming him. It was as if a firework had ignited beneath his skin, just from the simple press of Magnus’s lips on his. He had never thought something could feel this good, he practically felt giddy. 

After the initial shock of emotions had cleared, he started kissing Magnus back. The slide of their lips over each other was heavenly. 

All of a sudden, Alec was hit with Magnus’s scent. Magnus’s scent had changed and his arousal was permeating Alec’s senses. Just when he realized this and he could do something about it, like try to get all of Magnus’s clothes off, Magnus wrenched himself away from Alec. Alec just stood there gasping and tried to make sense of what had just happened.

“I’m sorry”, Magnus panted. 

Alec’s heart fell. This was probably the moment when Magnus would tell him that he didn’t want a relationship with an omega. 

“It’s okay”, Alec whispered and made to leave. Magnus grabbed his arm to stop him. “I’m not apologizing for kissing you”, Magnus stated. “I’m apologizing for getting too caught up in it, when I know that you’re not ready for more yet”, Magnus explained. “I don’t want you to get the wrong idea and think I’m only in this to get you into my bed”, he explained further. 

“Oh”, Alec said. “So you still want to go on another date?”, Alec asked, surprising himself. 

“Very much so”, Magnus replied smiling. 


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I updated the tags so be ready to add some smut to the story! It's my first time writing it so I hope you like it. Some of the dialogue is quoted from the series, so they get all the credit off course.

After the success of the first date, Alec and Magnus went on three more dates. Every time Alec felt less and less nervous about meeting Magnus. He felt really comfortable around the alpha and he noticed he let his guard down more often. 

For their second date, Magnus took Alec to another restaurant, an Italian place this time. The food was excellent and they had talked until the owner had politely asked them to leave. 

For their third date, Magnus had prepared them a picnic in Central Parc and they had fed each other little pieces of food. 

For their fourth date, Magnus had taken Alec to a Mundane movie theater to ‘broaden his horizons a little’. Alec hadn’t really liked the movie, but sitting in the dark with Magnus was something he could get on board with. In the end, neither had seen very much of the movie. 

After every date, they both were reluctant to call it a night, so they eventually ended up at Magnus’s apartment for drinks. They always ended up sprawled on the couch making out. It was perfect. 

Alec wasn’t complaining, he really wasn’t, but ever since the fourth date he had started wondering what it would be like to take things _further_ with Magnus. Not all the way yet, but maybe just about halfway there? At least a little more than the make-out sessions they had now. 

He had thought Magnus would initiate something after a couple of dates, but so far the alpha had been a perfect gentleman, always taking a step back when things got a little heated. 

Alec didn’t know how to bring it up though, afraid Magnus would laugh at him for thinking he would ever want Alec like that. 

  


One day when he was monitoring the screens in the Opps room, he noticed he and Izzy were practically alone in the room. He tried to casually stroll over towards her, but apparently his attempt wasn’t successful since Izzy quirked her eyebrow at him. 

“What’s up big brother?”, she asked him. 

Alec had been rehearsing what to say for a couple of days now, but when the moment arose to actually start talking, he choked up. 

He glanced nervously over his shoulder to make sure no one could overhear him talking. 

“When – um – How… How would someone, you know, know it’s the _right time_?”, he managed to get out. His heart was racing in his chest. 

Izzy gave him a questioning look at first, but Alec saw the moment realization hit her. 

“Oh!”, she exclaimed with a wicked glint in her eyes. “Oh, you mean you and Magnus?”, she asked him excitedly, not at all minding how loud she was being. 

“Could you not discuss my sex life in front of the entire Institute”, Alec gritted out.

Izzy rolled her eyes and waves his comment away. “Oh my God, are you talking about having sex?!”, Izzy asked, clearly having a field day with this. 

Alec sighed and looked pointedly at Izzy. “Are you done?”, he said exasperated. 

“Okay, okay”, Izzy sighed. “You and Magnus want to?”, she asked. 

Alec was really grateful she took this serious. “Yeah”, he said, “I think so. I don’t know”. 

Izzy placed her hand on top of his arm and looked at him. “Alec, it’s you and Magnus. He cares about you, he wants to be with you too”, she said. 

“Then why hasn’t he already made a move?”, Alec asked in a small voice. This was what it eventually came down too: did Magnus want him? 

Izzy looked at him with sympathy in her eyes. “You know Magnus isn’t like other alphas Alec. He doesn’t want you to think he’s taking advantage of you. Just talk with him”, she said. “Just don’t do what you always do”, she added. 

Alec stared at her, blinking. “What’s that?”, he asked confused. 

“Overthink things”, Izzy said pointedly. 

“I don’t overthink things”, Alec said incredulously. Did he? 

“Do I?”, he asked Izzy. Izzy just looked at him with a small smile. Alec sighed and raked his hands through his hair before he looked back up at her. 

“Look, if it’s what you want and it makes you happy, then go for it”, Izzy said while she squeezed his arm. Alec looked at her for a long moment before he nodded. “Thanks sis”, he whispered and pulled her into a hug. 

  


A couple of days after his talk with Izzy, Alec had texted Magnus to ask him if they could meet up later that day. Magnus, as always, was delighted to hear from Alec and had readily agreed. When Magnus proposed they went out to eat, Alec had gathered up all his courage and suggested they stay in, have take-out and watch a movie. Magnus had seemed a little bit surprised, but he had agreed. 

They would meet up at 7PM that night. Off course, because nothing could ever go right in Alec’s life, at 6 PM Jace knocked on his door, just as Alec was about ready to head out. 

“I’m really sorry man, but we just received a message from Luke. Three more omegas have gone missing”, Jace said. 

Alec’s heart fell. They had been trying to investigate the disappearance for the last couple of weeks, but weren’t making much progress. Whoever was kidnapping the omegas was doing a very good job at leaving nothing behind. They still weren’t even 100 percent sure it was a Warlock who was taking them. On top of that, their mother wasn’t exactly thrilled to let them take time out of their schedule to look for missing omegas. 

“What’s the plan then?”, Alec asked, already mourning his lost time with Magnus.

“We were thinking we might head over to Magnus’s to discuss what to do next”, Jace said, smirking when he saw Alec’s eyes light up at the mention of Magnus. 

  


Half an hour later they found themselves in front of Magnus’s apartment. The alpha had altered his wards so that Alec could pass them without having to ring the bell, but that wasn’t the case for Jace, Clary, Izzy or Simon so Alec rang the bell and waited. 

“Who dares disturb the High Warlock of Brooklyn!”, came Magnus’s bellowing voice. Alec had to choke back a chuckle at Magnus’s theatrics. 

“It’s me”, he said with a laugh in his voice. 

“Alexander!”, Magnus exclaimed happily. “Why are you ringing the bell darling?”, he asked. 

“I’ve brought Jace, Clary, Izzy and Simon with me and they can’t pass through the wards”, Alec explained. 

There was a little pause before Magnus said anything else. “Oh, okay, I guess we can do movie night with all of you”, Magnus said and Alec thought he could detect a little hurt and disappointment in his voice. Before he could add something else, Magnus buzzed open the door and allowed them entrance. 

When they reached the top of the stairs, Magnus was already standing in his doorway, leaning casually against the door. If Alec didn’t know the alpha as well as he did right now, he wouldn’t have been able to detect the hurt in Magnus’s eyes. But by now, he could see beyond Magnus’s defenses. 

“Shadowhunters”, he greeted amicably. “And vampire”, he added when Simon coughed. He gestured with his hand to follow him inside and he proceeded to make them all drinks. 

“Please, make yourselves comfortable”, he said while he turned his back on them. 

Alec could tell he was tense by the rigidness in his back muscles. He silently walked over to Magnus and laid a hand on his shoulder. “Hey”, he said softly, “It’s not what you think. I didn’t bring them on our date. Three more omegas have gone missing and Jace wanted to check up on the investigation with you”, he explained. 

Magnus sighed a little in relieve and looked up at Alec. “Oh”, he said in a small voice. “I’m sorry I acted like this darling”, he added a little embarrassed.

“Don’t be”, Alec said, “Maybe when we’re finished talking about the disappearances we can still have movie night?” he added hopeful. 

Magnus smiled softly at him. “I’d like that”, he said before turning around and clapping his hands. “Alright, I’ve been told you want to discuss the omega disappearances?”, Magnus began. 

Jace nodded and launched into a detailed explanation about the most recent disappearances. Magnus listened intently and nodded along. 

“I’ve been trying to get in contact with every Warlock placed under my, let’s call it jurisdiction”, he said. “I’ve heard back from most of them, reporting nothing out of the ordinary. But there is one Warlock I can’t seem to reach, which is a little suspicious”, he continued. 

“Why is that?”, Izzy asked. 

“Because I’m the High Warlock”, Magnus added a little smug. “It’s not like they _have_ to obey me, but when I write them a message they do best to answer me”, he explained. 

Alec couldn’t help but feel proud about Magnus’s power. 

“Who is the Warlock?”, Clary asked? 

“Iris Rouse”, Magnus said. Alec thought the name sounded vaguely familiar, maybe they had encountered it in their search? He was trying to remember it when he heard Izzy gasp.

“Off course!”, she mumbled. 

“What?”, Simon asked, looking puzzled at Izzy. Jace and Clary didn’t seem to follow either. 

“Off course!”, Izzy repeated. “It all makes sense now!”, she said while she started pacing around the apartment. 

“Isabelle dear, would you maybe want to share your epiphany with the rest of the classroom”, Magnus asked while he looked at Izzy amused. 

“Oh right”, Izzy said quickly like she hadn’t realized they couldn’t read her mind. “Iris Rouse is the name of a Warlock who, up until last year, ran a Warlock orphanage. When the Clave found out she wasn’t exactly treating the Warlock children well, they forced her to close it down. They found out she was trying to build an army of Warlocks to fight against the Clave. Since she doesn’t have the children anymore, maybe that’s what she’s using the omegas for”, Izzy concluded. 

Everyone was silent after Izzy’s speech. Alec didn’t know what to think about it. Omegas being used to create an army of Warlocks? That meant Iris had to have demons impregnate them. The idea was actively making Alec sick. 

Magnus noticed his scent changing because of his emotions and he started rubbing soothing circles into Alec’s lower back. Alec shot him a grateful smile. He had such a caring alpha. _Wait what?_

Jace shook him out of his thoughts by asking Magnus where they could find Iris, but Magnus didn’t know either. If a Warlock didn’t want to be found, it was really difficult to do so. 

Jace proposed they use connections within the Downworld to see if they could track Iris. Simon would gather intel from the Vampire clans and Izzy had a couple of connections in the Seelie Realm. 

They thanked Magnus for their time and made to leave. When they apparently expected Alec to join them, he told them he’d stay because he had promised Magnus a movie night. 

  


As was usual for them, they ended up on the couch together, their lips sliding against each other. Magnus was sitting with his back against the couch while Alec straddled his legs. 

Alec still couldn’t describe how amazing it felt to hold Magnus, to be able to touch him, kiss him, to have his scent all around him. 

Magnus had a habit of ending up with both his hands buried in Alec’s hair, while Alec had both of his arms wrapped around Magnus. He was stroking a patch of skin on Magnus’s lower back where his dress shirt had ridden up a bit. He shivered from the skin-on-skin contact. 

Magnus smiled into the kiss when he felt Alec’s shiver and he traced Alec’s bottom lip with his tongue. Alec gasped from the feeling and allowed Magnus’s tongue entrance to his mouth. 

All of a sudden, Magnus pulled Alec’s hair a little bit and Alec felt a shock of pleasure travel all through his body, making a moan slip out of his mouth. Magnus groaned low in his throat when he heard the sound Alec had made. “God, you’re perfect”, he mumbled against Alec’s lips, trailing small kisses from his mouth, over his jaw, towards his neck. 

Alec couldn’t do much more than pant while Magnus kissed and licked over his neck. The neck was a very sensitive spot for omegas and when Magnus sucked a bruise on his neck, Alec saw stars. 

“God, Magnus”, he managed to sigh, while he tilted his neck to the side a little bit more. Magnus bit down a little bit on his pulse point, not hard enough to break skin, but enough for Alec to feel it. The fact that Magnus had bitten him where normally a mating bite would go, made him dizzy with want. 

His kisses turned slightly desperate and Magnus could tell because he slowed down a little.

Magnus groaned but pulled off of Alec’s neck to look into his eyes. Magnus touched his forehead to Alec’s and nuzzled his nose against Alec’s. “How far do you want to take this?”, he asked panting. 

Alec swallowed loudly. “I-I don’t know”, he confessed, blushing. “Not all the way”, he added.

Magnus stroked his fingers through the short hairs at the back of Alec’s neck. “Do you just want to continue doing this?”, he asked gently. 

Alec nodded grateful for Magnus understanding him. 

“How about we move things to my bedroom then?”, Magnus asked. “You’ll be more comfortable there”, he added while he gestured at Alec’s neck and back. “We can stop anytime you want”, he reassured Alec. 

Alec swallowed again but nodded his consent and moved to get off of Magnus’s lap. Magnus stood from the couch and held out his hand for Alec to take. When Alec took it, he pulled Alec along towards his bedroom. 

Once inside, Magnus pushed Alec on his bed and crawled over him. Alec felt like he had died and gone to heaven. The feel of Magnus, _all_ of Magnus on top of his body was heavenly. 

“Now where were we”, Magnus smirked seductively and captured Alec’s bottom lip between his own.

Alec had already been half hard on the couch, but now that he could feel Magnus’s body moving lightly on top of his, he was rock hard in no time. When Magnus pulled his hair again, he moaned and bucked up his hips. He gasped when he felt Magnus’s erection pressed up against his own and he felt an overwhelming sense of pride that he was the one to make Magnus react this way. 

Magnus continued kissing him, sucking slightly on his tongue, while he ground down against Alec. Alec’s eyes rolled into his head from the pleasure that spiked out through his body. He mimicked Magnus’s motion and groaned from the friction it created. By that point they were hardly kissing anymore, panting in each other’s mouth trying to steal each other’s oxygen. 

Alec had never felt anything like this in his life. It was more than just physical pleasure with Magnus. For Alec it felt as if there was an intense emotional feeling involved as well, where he and Magnus too, tried to be as close to the other as possible. Where they both had the desire to never let the other go. 

They sped up their thrusts against each other and Alec could feel himself climbing higher. What surprised him was how unafraid he was of this whole situation. He had never allowed himself to be this vulnerable with anyone else, but with Magnus he gladly trusted him to take care of him. To catch him when he fell. 

“Fuck, Alec”, Magnus moaned in his ear and Alec could hear how close he was. The knowledge that he was driving Magnus wild was overwhelming and Alec felt his muscles go taut. His back arched of the bed and he came with a silent cry, his eyes scrunched close. Magnus soon followed him, clinging to his body while they both came down from their highs together. 

When the world came back into focus, Alec noticed Magnus was nuzzling his nose against the side of his neck and he realized Magnus was scenting him. Scenting was an intimate gesture between mated pairs where one of the parties left their scent on the other. It was a clear sign that they were taken. Alec felt his heart beat loudly when he thought about the implications. Magnus wanted him to be his? His inner omega keened at the thought. 

Magnus rolled on his side and looked up at Alec, smiling sleepily. Alec yawned and the thought of going to sleep right now, curled up against Magnus, sounded really good but he had duties in the morning and it would probably be best if he returned to the Institute. 

He sighed and made way to get up out of the bed, when Magnus suddenly grabbed his wrist. Alec looked back at Magnus and was surprised by the vulnerable look he found there. He looked at Magnus quizzically. 

“Stay”, Magnus whispered, “Please”. 

And who was Alec to say no to that. 


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Thanks for all your lovely comments, they really make my day. This chapter was hard for me to write because I couldn't seem to get it right. I doubted a long time whether it would be from Alec's POV or Magnus's, but in the end I decided to split it up between the two of them.   
> I rewrote a lot and I'm not entirely happy with the endresult, but I think I never will be completly happy so I'm going to post anyway.

Ever since he had slept over at Magnus’s, Alec hated going back to the Institute even more. 

After the first night he had spent over at the alpha’s apartment, Magnus had made him a portal to go back to the Institute in the morning. It had taken quite a lot of willpower to actually step through it, but Alec felt like he didn’t care as much about how needy he seemed. After all, Magnus had looked equally reluctant to let go of him. 

It surprised Alec how well everything was going. He saw Magnus about three or four nights per week. Sometimes they went out to a restaurant or Magnus took him to see movies or shows, but just as often they stayed in and ordered take-out while watching a movie or talking. 

They fell asleep wrapped up around each other. They still hadn’t had sex, but they had tried everything else in the book. Alec felt like he was on cloud nine. He had literally never been this happy in his entire life and it was all thanks to Magnus. 

Even the fact that their investigation into the missing omegas seemed to go nowhere, couldn’t put a damper on Alec’s good mood. 

Jace seemed to have dropped his crusade against Magnus, which made it even better. Alec had asked him about it one day when they were sparring and Jace had just shrugged his shoulders. “He makes you happy”, had been his answer as if it was as simple as that. 

After three glorious months in which the whole world seemed to be made out of candy, one morning Alec woke up in his bed at the Institute. He sighed wistfully when he looked over at the other side of the bed, whishing Magnus could be there. 

There wasn’t an actual rule that forbade Alec to sleep over at Magnus, but there certainly was a rule that forbade any Downworlder from sleeping in the Institute. A rule that forced Izzy to sleep out of the Institute for 90% of the nights ever since she mated with Simon, not that she minded. 

He got up out of bed and walked into his en-suite bathroom. He hopped into the shower and while he was drying himself off, he walked over to the medicine cabinet to take his heat suppressant. 

When he took the little pill bottle out of the cabinet, he froze at the sight in front of him. The bottle was empty. _Shit_.

In his bliss over how well everything was going with Magnus, he had completely forgotten that he was supposed to go into heat the next month. Had it really been already six months since his last one? 

Alec started pacing around in the bathroom, trying not to panic. His breaths came a little bit faster and he felt his stomach clench. 

Just breath, he thought to himself, it was going to be fine. He could talk to Magnus about this right? It was going to be fine, it was Magnus after all. Magnus had proven nothing but kind and compassionate over the time he knew Alec. He wouldn’t force Alec to spend his heat with him. 

Alec started to calm down a little bit when a little voice at the back of his head spoke up. What if _Alec_ wanted to spent his heat with Magnus? 

That thought stopped him straight in his tracks. Did he? 

He started chewing on his bottom lip while he sank down on the ground, his back against the wall. 

Did he want to spent his heat with Magnus? The omega in him was currently doing summersaults at the thought, but those were just the hormones speaking, right? And besides, how was he supposed to bring this up with Magnus? Did he want Alec like that? 

Alec had gotten a lot better at questioning Magnus’s feelings and intentions, but in stressful times he reverted right back to his old thinking habbits. 

He nearly jumped out of his skin when there was a knock on the bathroom door. 

“Alec?”, he heard Jace’s voice. “Are you alright in there?”, he asked. 

Alec panicked because what the hell was he supposed to tell Jace? ‘I’m fine, I’m just wondering if I want to spend my heat with Magnus, what’s your opinion on that?’. Yeah that would go down great with Jace. 

“Um, yeah, just – just got out of the shower”, Alec croaked. 

“You know I can feel you freaking out right? So unless there’s a big ass spider in the shower at the moment, I’m not buying it”, Jace said. 

Alec let his head fall back against the wall with a thud and closed his eyes. Right, the bond. 

“Can I come in?”, Jace asked when Alec didn’t answer his questions. 

Since Alec didn’t think he would go away any time soon, he just shrugged his shoulders. “Sure”, he added when he realized Jace couldn’t see him.

He didn’t bother opening his eyes when he heard the door open and Jace sat down on the ground next to him. It was a testament to how well Jace knew him, that he didn’t start with a hundred questions. Instead, he let Alec gather his thoughts and tell him in his own words. 

“My heat is coming up”, Alec managed to grit out. 

Jace nodded, but remained silent. 

“I don’t know what I want to do”, Alec continued and he opened his eyes to look at Jace.

To his surprise, Jace looked at him sympathetically. Alec had not expected this side of Jace. He had expected protective, overbearing, I-need-to-look-out-for-you-little-omega Jace. This Jace almost looked like he understood. 

“I get it”, Jace said. “It’s a big decision to make”, he continued. Alec scoffed. Like he didn’t know that already. 

“What do you want to do?”, Jace asked him gently. Alec sighed. He knew what he really wanted, but would Magnus? Would he want Alec like that? 

“I- “, Alec started and looked away again. 

“Do you want to spend it with Magnus?”, Jace asked, still calm. Alec jerkily nodded his head. 

“Do you want to bond with him?”, Jace asked. 

Oh God, Alec hadn’t even thought about that. Normally, when an omega and an alpha were together for a significant amount of time and they chose to spend the omega’s heat together, it would mean they wanted to make their bond official. To exchange mating bites. Alec had been to busy freaking out about his heat, he had forgotten to freak out about the possibility of a bond with Magnus. 

The thought made a swarm of butterflies erupt in his stomach though. Being able to call Magnus _his_ was an indescribable urge he didn’t knew he had before. His inner omega preened at the thought. 

Alec heaved out a sigh and looked at Jace. “Yeah”, he whispered. “I don’t know if Magnus would want to though”, he added and he could feel tears start to prick in the corners of his eyes. 

Jace threw an arm over his shoulders and squeezed him. “Alec”, he started softly, “if you could see the way Magnus looks at you, the way he worships the ground you walk on, you wouldn’t be doubting this. It’s as if you hold the answers to every question he will ever ask. It’s as if you personally hung the moon and the stars in the sky”, Jace told him. 

To his surprise, Jace had used the exact same words Alec used to describe his relationship with Clary, or Izzy’s relationship with Simon. It was exactly what he had longed for all this time. 

“You think so?”, Alec asked nervously but he could hear the glimmer of hope in his voice. 

“I’m positive”, Jace said with a smile. 

“Thanks Jace”, Alec said softly before pulling his parabatai in for a hug. He would talk to Magnus tonight. 

  
***  


Magnus had been working in his apothecary all afternoon. He was busy preparing a potion for a very obnoxious client when his phone had started ringing. He sighed and put the brew on hold before answering his phone. 

Before he could finish saying hello, he was interrupted by a male voice. 

“Magnus, it’s Jace”, the voice – Jace – said. 

Magnus frowned. Why would Alec’s parabatai be calling him? “Is Alexander okay?”, Magnus asked immediately, worry creeping up his spine. 

“Yes everything is fine”, Jace said, “I just wanted to give you a heads up that Alec is on his way over. He wants to discuss something with you and he’s freaking out a little, so please give him space to bring up the topic himself, don’t pressure him”, Jace said sternly. 

Magnus didn’t know what to think about that. “Why is he freaking out?”, he asked puzzled. What would cause him to be so worried? 

Jace wasn’t inclined to tell him more, it seemed. “It’s really not my place to tell Magnus, just let him decide when he tells you what he has to tell you”, he said. 

“Do I need to worry?”, Magnus asked tentatively. Was Alexander breaking up with him? 

“No, it’s something good”, Jace replied and Magnus thought he could detect a hint of a smile in his voice. “Bye Magnus”, he said and he hung up. 

Magnus stared at his phone for a good minute before he returned to his brew, although he would be lying if he said he was as focused on the brew as he should be. 

He was sitting on his sofa a while later, reading a book, when he had felt his wards bend and he could feel the telltale sign of Alexander entering the building. It felt like a warm blanket covering his body. 

That had been one hour ago and Alec hadn’t entered the apartment yet.

Magnus was trying to be patient and let Alec dictate the way this night turned out, he wasn’t going to take Jace’s advice in vain, but his patience wasn’t endless. He knew Alec was probably standing in front of his door right now, freaking out about some unknown reason and he didn’t dare to come in.

Just as Magnus was about to cave and go open the door himself, Alec entered the apartment. He placed his bow against the wall and took off his shoes. He hadn’t looked at Magnus yet and he stood shuffling his feet. Magnus’s heart fell when he saw how uncomfortable Alec seemed. Deciding to follow Jace’s advice, he ignored the thousands of questions that rose up in him. 

“Hello darling”, he greeted from the couch. When Alec looked up at him, he smiled gently and patted the spot next to him in invitation. Alec hesitatingly sat down next to him, but didn’t look up. 

After a minute of awkward silence, Magnus decided distraction was the best course of action. “Do you want to watch a movie?”, he asked Alec and watched him visibly relax. He knew Alec knew that Magnus knew something was going on, but Magnus had decided to just let Alec decide when to bring up the subject. 

Alec nodded his head and relaxed against Magnus. Magnus put on a feelgood comedy and stroked his fingers through Alec’s hair. 

When the movie was about halfway, Alec stirred a little and sat up. He fidgeted with his fingers and took a deep breath. 

“I – We need to talk”, he said and looked up at Magnus. Magnus tried to remind himself that Jace had told him it wasn’t something bad. “Okay”, he said hesitatingly. 

Alec sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “I- I mean – We –“, he stuttered, growing more and more restless. All of a sudden he stood up from the couch and started pacing around the living room, taking deep measured breaths. 

Magnus stood up tentatively himself and tried to reach out to Alec. “Darling, you know you can tell me everything right”, he said softly. 

Alec looked at him with wild eyes and Magnus’s heart broke a little when he saw the fear reflected in them. 

“Why haven’t you bonded with anyone yet?”, Alec asked him. Out of every topic Magnus had thought about in the course of the afternoon, this was not one he had anticipated. He stood there looking at Alec with wide eyes. 

“Why do you want to know?”, Magnus asked him a little defensive. He didn’t like to talk about that part of his life. 

“My heat is coming up”, Alec blurted out and seemed surprised himself. Magnus froze a little. Did Alec mean what he thought he meant? Why else would he bring up the topic? 

“Okay”, Magnus said tentatively. “I’m thinking this is going to be a conversation that needs lots of alcohol”, he muttered under his breath and clicked his fingers, producing two martini glasses.. He handed one to Alec and took a sip of his own. 

“Okay”, he said again, “I normally don’t like to talk about this, but I can tell this is something important to you”, he started explaining. Magnus took a seat on the couch and Alec joined him, facing him while bracing an elbow on the back of the couch. 

“For an immortal, choosing a mate is really important, maybe even more important than for mortals. You choose someone to spend the rest of your eternity with, so it’s not a choice to take lightly”, Magnus started telling Alec. “I was nearly 200 years old when I met Camille”, he said and he knew his tone had gained a bitterness in it. Alec to his credit didn’t say anything and just continued listening. “She was an omega and a vampire and I fell in love with her. I think she appealed to me because she was immortal too. She –“ Magnus hesitated, “She had me wrapped around her finger. She could make me do anything, without question. When she said jump, I asked how high”. 

Magnus took another gulp of his drink, he needed the liquid courage. “We were dating for six months when her heat was coming up and I was really thinking about asking her to bond with me. I had prepared everything for the night, a romantic dinner with candles and soft music, everything was perfect. When she was an hour late I started panicking, worried something had happened. So I went over to her place and I found her in bed with someone else”, Magnus said with a wry smile. Alec made a little noise in the back of his throat but besides that remained silent. 

“I was devastated”, Magnus continued, “I think I was AWOL for nearly six months and if my friends hadn’t been there I don’t know what would have become of me. But I decided that I wasn’t capable of making the right decisions when it came to love and I closed my heart off”, Magnus concluded. 

_Until you_ , he almost added. Did he dare open up so much to Alec? When he looked into Alec’s eyes he saw compassion and understanding there, but also something that looked like sadness, like he lost hope. Could Magnus be reading this right? Did Alec want to bond with him? 

He took Alec’s hand in his and decided to take the leap. “I closed off my heart, deciding to never let my heart be broken again”, he said softly. 

Alec looked down at their hands and remained silent. Magnus gently tilted his head up so he could look into his eyes. 

“Until I met you”, he whispered softly, smiling a little bit. He saw a smile appear on Alec’s lips too and he knew he had made the right decision in telling Alec everything. 

“Yeah?”, Alec asked hopefully. 

“Yes Alexander”, Magnus answered. “Did you bring up this topic because you cant to spend your heat with me?”, he asked gently. Alec nodded shyly. Magnus had to smile a little at that. Alec really was the most precious thing on the planet. 

“I also wanted to ask you something”, Alec said. 

Magnus smiled. “Ask away darling”, he said. 

“Magnus, would you please become my alpha?”, Alec asked shyly but proud. 

“It would be my honor and pleasure darling”, Magnus said solemnly. 

Alec looked up at him and Magnus’s heart beamed when he saw the amount of love reflecting in Alec’s eyes. He leaned over to him and placed a soft kiss on his lips. When they separated, he rested his forehead against Alec’s and looked into his eyes. “I love you”, he said, finally admitting what he felt for Alec. He didn’t even care if Alec didn’t say it back right now. The fact that Alec wanted him as his alpha, was more than Magnus had every wished for. His smile lit up the whole room when he heard Alec’s whispered “I love you too”. 


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys, here's another chapter! It's been kind of hectic at work the last couple of weeks so I haven't been able to write as much as I wanted to.  
> This chapter is just basically smut all the way :D  
> Let me know what you think!

About two weeks before his heat, they received a dozen fire messages from all parts of the Shadowworld, reporting missing omegas. Before then, they had assumed the disappearances were limited to mundanes only, but now they had missing vampires, warlocks, werewolves, seelies and even two Shadowhunters. 

The Shadowhunters had only gone missing a couple of days before and were from their own Institute so their disappearances were quite noticable, but some of the Downworlders were already missing for nearly a month. They had never contacted the Institute, thinking the Nephilim wouldn’t want to help Downworlders. It was thanks to Magnus contacting the Warlocks that had made them decide to seek out the help of the New York Institute. 

Alec, Jace, Izzy and Clary had been searching through their databases non-stop, trying to find out everything they could about the missing omegas. Simon and Magnus, who weren’t welcome in the Institute thanks to the Clave’s outdated law, were their eyes on the ground and went to visit the families of the omegas. 

Every night, Alec went over to Magnus’s loft to spend the night. They had agreed that when Alec’s mandatory leave of absence would come, he would be moving in with Magnus and they would complete their mating bond. 

With every passing day they weren’t able to track down either the omegas or Iris Rouse, Alec became more distraught. He felt responsible for finding the omegas since he was one himself. He couldn’t imagine their fear, what they must be going through. 

Since they hadn’t found any bodies yet, they were working under the assumption that the omegas were still alive and were kept somewhere hidden. Magnus had a theory that the place would be infused with magic to make it nearly impossible to find it. 

“What’s on your mind, love”, Magnus asked one night while Alec was lying on the couch with his head in Magnus’s lap. Magnus was gently stroking his fingers through his hair and Alec found it really soothing.

“I feel guilty”, he mumbled, “I get to have this, you, and those poor omegas are trapped somewhere”. 

“You know that none of this is your fault right?”, Magnus assured him. “I know you want to find them, and believe me so do I and so do the others, but it’s not your fault they were taken. We’re doing our very best to get them back”, Magnus said while still stroking through Alec’s hair. 

“I guess”, he said while he shrugged his shoulders a little bit. When Magnus’s ring caught on a strand of his hair, he hummed low in his throat from the tugging. 

Out of the corner of his eyes he could see Magnus’s eyes lit up like Christmas when he noticed Alec’s reaction. “You like that?”, he asked teasing, tugging his hair again. 

“Yeah”, Alec replied breathless, tightening his grip on Magnus’s waist. He pushed himself up on his knees and looked at Magnus, making a decision. 

“I know my heat is coming up in a week or so, but”, he trailed off. He felt a blush stain his cheeks.

“But?”, Magnus prompted, patient as always. 

“But I’ve been kind of thinking about, you know, the next step”, Alec managed to stutter out. 

“The sex step?”, Magnus asked, but Alec could hear the teasing lilt in his voice. He knew he was making Alec uncomfortable talking about this and he was enjoying making Alec squirm. 

“Yes, the s-sex step”, Alec said, proud he only stuttered once. “I, I don’t know if I want my first time to be during my heat. I know it will be great, but I don’t know how much of it will be caused by all the hormones. I, I want to be with you for real, without having my brain soaking in hormones. I want to make a conscious decision to take that step with you”, Alec told Magnus while he looked him in the eyes. 

His nerves had vanished during his explanation. This wasn’t something he was nervous about. This was about telling Magnus how much he meant to Alec, about how much Alec wanted to be with Magnus. That Magnus was Alec’s choice, Alec chose him. 

He could tell the message had hit home when Magnus’s eyes became a little glassy. “You never cease to amaze me Alexander”, Magnus whispered. “Good things I hope?”, Alec teased him a little, while he brushed his nose along Magnus’s. “The best”, Magnus smiled before he closed the gap between their lips in a sweet kiss. 

Alec sighed and let himself be held by Magnus, determined to forget everything about the missing omegas and focus solely on his boyfriend, his alpha. 

When the kiss grew heated, both Magnus and Alec knew where this is headed, so when they break apart for much needed oxygen Magnus stands and takes Alec’s hand. Alec met Magnus’s gaze head on and he took his hand without hesitation. 

This is what he wanted. He has thought about it for days now, even stumbling through his embarrassment in a conversation with Izzy. He was certain that this is what he wanted. He wanted to know what it is like to be with Magnus for the first time, without him being reduced to hormone-driven lust. He wants to experience his first time for real.

When they entered the bedroom, Alec could barely contain his want for Magnus and he plastered himself against the alpha’s chest. Magnus claimed his lips in a hungry, biting, kiss. 

When Alec took a step back, he was blown away by the look in Magnus’s eyes. His glamour was gone, leaving his cat-eyes on full display. Their pupils were dilated, practically round, in arousal and Magnus’s gaze was burning into him. 

Alec knew that a year ago he would cower when someone looked at him like that, but now he revels in it. He took great pride in the knowledge it was him who turned Magnus on this much. The thought made him smile as he gently leaned into Magnus again. 

This kiss is much softer but it holds a promise. Alec could feel it burning in his belly, the want, the _need_ to be with Magnus. 

They gently undressed each other under a stream of constant praises. When they were both bare to the other, Magnus laid Alec down in the middle of the bed and sat back on his heels. 

They had been naked in front of the other before, had done a lot of things while being naked too, but Magnus had never looked at Alec the way he was right then. Alec blushed under the total adoration he could see in Magnus’s eyes. 

“You are perfect”, Magnus told him. “I thank every God there may or may not be every day for you. For the amazing person you are and the luck I have that you wanted me”, Magnus continued reverently. “I know we’re not completing our bond right now, but I want to tell you that I will do everything in my power to keep you happy, to keep you safe, at all times. I promise I will try my best to take care of you every day”, he vowed to Alec and Alec saw a single tear slipping down his cheek. 

Alec gently wiped it away and cupped Magnus’s cheek in his hand. “I promise to be your forever”, he simply stated while looking into Magnus’s eyes, knowing that the amount of love he saw in there was reflected in his own. He didn’t need to make a grand speech. For him it was as simple as that, he would be Magnus’s forever and Magnus would be his. 

Magnus nuzzled into his hand before he moved himself between Alec’s legs. “You’re absolutely sure you want this, right?”, Magnus asked him one last time. 

Alec nodded his head and pulled Magnus’s mouth closer to his own. “I want this. I want you”, Alec said before he kissed Magnus. 

They took their time exploring the other, sharing kisses between them. Magnus left Alec’s mouth and continued trailing kisses from the corner of his mouth, over his cheek, to his neck. Alec’s deflect rune had always managed to captivate Magnus’s attention and he licked along the shape of it, making Alec moan and turn his head to the side to give Magnus more room. 

Magnus sucked a bruise on his pulse point and laved the sore spot with his tongue afterwards. “Magnus”, Alec gasped when he was overwhelmed with his feelings for the alpha. “I’ve got you darling”, Magnus whispered into his skin. 

He continued showering Alec with kisses, covering his entire neck and moving on to his clavicles, over his nipples, his abs, to his hips. He bit Alec’s hipbone, making him arch off the bed, moaning. 

When Alec looked down at Magnus, he saw the alpha was already looking up at him, staring into his eyes before he deliberately licked the tip of Alec’s cock. Alec threw his head back with a gasp. Magnus was now licking alone his entire shaft, placing little kisses all over it.

“You okay love?”, he asked, and to Alec’s delight he sounded just as wrecked as Alec felt. “Y-Yeah”, Alec managed to say, “keep going”. Magnus hummed and took the tip of Alec’s cock into his mouth, sucking just slightly. When he took him a little bit deeper Alec moaned loudly, trashing his head on the pillows. He felt Magnus’s reciprocating groan around his cock, making him gasp. 

Magnus gently trailed his hand up his leg and thigh. Alec stiffened up a little bit when he thought about where Magnus was going, but managed to relax himself fast. He wanted this so bad. 

Magnus snapped his fingers and Alec felt a lubed up finger gently tracing a circle around his entrance. It felt a little strange having someone touch him right there, but just when he was about to overthink it, Magnus took his cock all the way into his throat and swallowed. 

“Oh god”, Alec cried out as Magnus simultaneously breached his hole with his finger. He pulled off his cock and looked at Alec. “You good?”, he asked. “Fuck, keep going”, Alec nearly shouted at Magnus, earning him a smirk in return. “Your wish is my command’, Magnus teased before taking Alec back into his mouth. 

He gently started to thrust in and out of Alec’s hole before adding a second finger. He let Alec adjust to it before he started scissoring them to open Alec up. When Magnus curled his fingers just right, Alec saw stars and jolted half upright in surprise. He was breathing hard and if Magnus hadn’t released his cock he was sure he would have come then and there. 

Magnus was looking at him very much like the cat that got the canary and Alec thought he looked positively sinful with his lips red and swollen. 

“Thought you might like that”, Magnus said with a smug look on his face. Alec tried to glare at him, but just then Magnus hit that sweet spot inside him again, which made him whine. 

“Are you ready for me love?”, Magnus asked huskily. “Yeah, get over here”, Alec said while he made grabby hands towards Magnus. 

Magnus complied and placed himself between Alec’s legs, gently stroking his fingers across his jaw. “This is most likely going to hurt a little bit. If you want me to stop, just say the word”, Magnus whispered. 

Ales nodded his head but he didn’t think anything could make him stop Magnus at this point. Magnus claimed his lips in a fiery kiss again and Alec felt Magnus’s member nudge at his entrance. 

When Magnus entered him, he forced himself to relax and absorb the pain. “You okay?”, Magnus asked between kisses. “Uhu, I’ll stop you if I need to, just keep going”, Alec said urgently. 

The feeling of Magnus inside him was beyond this world, it felt as if they were connected on every level. Tears sprang in his eyes when he thought about how this must be what a mating bond felt like, only increased by a million. He couldn’t wait to connect with Magnus on that level. 

When Magnus had bottomed out, he held still for a couple of seconds to let Alec adjust to his size. Alec nudged him with his foot. “Move”, he groaned when Magnus didn’t take the hint. Magnus chuckled. “Such an impatient little omega, aren’t you”, he said adoringly before he started moving in earnest.

Before long they were both a moaning mess, panting in each other’s mouth. Magnus had started hitting Alec’s prostate dead on a couple of thrusts ago and Alec could tell he was getting close. 

“Mag- Magnus, I’m – fuck – I’m almost there”, he moaned. “Me too”, Magnus panted in his ear before he doubled his efforts and pounded into Alec, making him shift up on the bed. Alec didn’t care. He loved the way Alec held onto his hips and he secretly hoped he would have bruises there tomorrow to remind him of this moment. 

He felt heat uncurl in his belly and with a long drawn out moan, he released on his stomach. Magnus went rigid above him and he emptied himself inside Alec with a soundless moan, eyes closed in pure bliss. Alec thought he had never looked more beautiful. 

Magnus collapsed onto Alec and they both gathered their breaths. “That was – I mean – Oh. My. God.”, Alec said breathlessly. Magnus chuckled and rolled off of him, snapping his fingers to clean them both up. Alec raised an eyebrow at him and Magnus just shrugged. “Perks of dating a warlock darling”, he said with smirk. 

Magnus gathered Alec in his arms and pulled him tight against him, draping the blankets over him. “Let’s get some rest”, he whispered and they both drifted off wrapped around each other. Alec had never been happier. 


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys, I'm really sorry it's taking me this long to update. Work is still super crazy and my 3 year old just had a two week holiday from school. I'm telling you, running around after her all day is exhausting, lol! Now she's back in school and I have managed to at least shorten my to-do list at work a little bit, so here is a short new chapter.   
> It's about Alec's heat and I wanted to take this opportunity to explain my vision on this a little bit. I don't generally like the fics where omegas are described as slaves of their hormones - no offence to anyone who has written it like this! - so in this fic Alec experiences a rush of hormones during his heat, but he isn't a slave of them. He can still think clearly. I also didn't really feel like writing a dozen smut scenes, so it will not be in explicit detail. 
> 
> I'm sorry the chapter is this short, but I'll try and update the next one a little faster!  
> Let me know what you think!

“Could you maybe try to be a little bit more careful with my stuff?”, Alec yelled through the portal as Jace launched yet another one of his boxes into Magnus’s living room. 

“You just have way to much crap Alec!”, Jace yelled back. “Who owns this much books when they’re not a library anyway?” 

Alec rolled his eyes and looked at Magnus exasperated. “I’m so glad I don’t have to live with him anymore”, he said. 

Magnus was sitting in his favorite armchair, reading a book with a glass of wine in his hand. He twirled the glass around while he looked up at Alec fondly. “You’re saying that now, but just wait until you’ve been here for a couple of days. I’m sure you’re going to miss him a lot”. 

“Am not”, Alec said petulantly. He tilted his head to the side and eyed Magnus curiously. “Are you jealous?”, he asked suddenly, feeling a little smile creep up his face. 

Magnus looked at him very seriously. “I don’t get jealous”, he said adamantly. 

“Oh my god, you’re jealous. You’re actually jealous”, Alec replied with glee. This was priceless, he thought and he couldn’t help the little giggle that escaped him. Magnus Bane, the most powerful Downworld alpha, was jealous, because Alec just might miss his parabatai while he lived with Magnus. 

“I’ve never done jealous, this is not jealousy”, Magnus kept insisting. Alec just stood there smiling at him and Magnus rolled his eyes. “Shouldn’t you be, I don’t know, moving in or something? Chop,chop those boxes aren’t going to unpack themselves you know”, he chided Alec. 

Alec looked at Magnus with his eyebrow raised and walked over to the chair Magnus was sitting in. He put his hands next to Magnus’s head and leaned in to peck his lips slightly. He hummed low in his throat, just as he knew Magnus liked, before he pulled away. He reveled in the fact that Magnus tried to chase his lips. He sauntered over to the first box and picked it up, deliberately slow, before looking over his shoulder. “I know I’m right”, he said with a wink before walking away, laughing at Magnus’s expression the whole time. 

  


After all of Alec’s belongings were moved from his room at the Institute, or rather thrown into Magnus’s loft by Jace, Magnus magicked up a nice dinner for Alec, his siblings and their mates. They had a wonderful evening and at the end Alec was flushed a bright red thanks to everyone making speeches about him finally growing up. 

After they had bid everyone goodbye and Magnus had portalled Clary and Jace back to the Institute and Izzy and Simon back to their apartment, Magnus had turned around and looked at Alec lovingly. 

“Are you ready for our first night living together?”, he had asked as he had wrapped his arms around Alec’s waist. 

“Let’s”, Alec replied with a bright smile, taking Magnus’s hand and pulling him into his, no _their_ , bedroom. 

  


When he woke up the next morning, the first thing he was aware of was that he was really hot and that he was grinding into the bed. He let out a low whimper when he realized he was in heat. 

It took another second to realize that he had moved in with Magnus and that meant he didn’t have to go through it alone anymore. The thought of Magnus made his mind go into some hyper focused mode he had never encountered before, because now the alpha was all he could think about.

He turned around in the bed and threw his arm out, hoping to find Magnus, but all he found was an empty bed. Frowning he sat up, ignoring the wet sheets all around him. 

“Magnus”, he called out, not even caring a little bit how needy he sounded. He needed his alpha and he needed him yesterday. 

When Magnus didn’t answer, Alec felt a little pang of worry settle in his otherwise lust-clouded brain. Kicking the sheets away with his feet, he got out of the bed and went searching for Magnus. It was easier said than done, because every few seconds a wave of heat rolled through his body, making his legs tremble. Magnus’s smell was all around him which made it even harder to focus. He felt slick trickle down his legs and whimpered at the empty feeling inside of him. Focus, he thought to himself, find Magnus. Magnus will fix this.

Alec took a deep breath in and stumbled out of the bedroom into the living room. “Magnus?”, he called out again, this time a little more frantic. He didn’t see the alpha in the living room and he couldn’t hear noises coming from the kitchen either. 

“Where is he”, Alec muttered to himself, while he let his hands wander towards his already throbbing member. He needed some sort of relief and if the alpha wasn’t here to give it to him, well he had been perfectly capable of handling this himself all these years, now hadn’t he. 

“Screw him”, Alec said and laughed a little bit at his own joke, before his laugh turned into a moan when his hands started stroking. He went to sit down in Magnus’s favorite chair, pumping his hand up and down his shaft, while he let his other hand wander up to pinch his nipples. He arched his back into it and let out a breathy moan. 

He was so focused on what he was doing, he didn’t hear the key turn into the lock. “Alexander, I’m home and I brought breakfast”, Magnus yelled from the hallway. When he entered the living room and saw what Alec was doing, he looked puzzled for about a second. Then Alec’s scent reached him, causing Magnus to breath in deeply, eyes closed. 

Alec looked him straight in the eyes, still jerking himself off. “Where were you?”, he asked petulantly, “I need you”. 

Magnus looked back at him, pupils blown wide. “God you’re in heat”, he growled out, already unbuttoning his shirt. 

Magnus got out of his clothes in record time and practically pounced on Alec. Alec’s inner omega did a little happy dance when he felt his alpha collide with him. 

After that, everything happened in a sort of blur for Alec and he didn’t really know how exactly he got on the bed with Magnus, but when Magnus entered him he couldn’t help but sag with relief. It surprised him how different this was from what he had expected. He’d only ever went through his heat on his own, so he didn’t really know what it was going to be like to share it with an alpha. 

His parents had told him stories about how omegas are completely at the mercy of their hormones, lust-driven creatures who care about nothing more than their alpha’s cock. It surprised Alec how clear he could still think. Yes, he could feel the hormones coursing through his blood, heightening his senses and making him crave Magnus more than on a regular day. But he still felt like himself. He could still think, could still make decisions, could still feel everything like he normally would. It was a great relief for him to know that, even though he was in heat, he could still consciously choose to be with Magnus like this and not just mindlessly throw himself on Magnus’s dick. 

Both Magnus and Alec were lost to each other and all too soon, Alec felt a telltale sign of his impending orgasm. 

“Magnus”, he panted, baring his neck to the side in a show of submission for the alpha. Magnus’s growl when he saw Alec bearing his neck was nearly enough to finish Alec off. 

“Are you sure”, Magnus gritted out through his teeth, still pounding on Alec. 

“Yes, yes, make me yours”, Alec practically mewled, stretching his neck even further. He felt Magnus loose his rhythm a little bit, which indicated the alpha was close too. 

Magnus dropped down on his elbows and nuzzled Alec’s neck, placing gentle kisses there. “I love you”, he whispered into Alec’s skin before he bit down on Alec’s neck. Alec’s eyes rolled to the back as a flood of endorphins rushed his system, triggering his release. He screamed out Magnus’s name while he painted their stomachs white. 

Magnus released his neck and licked over the bite with his tongue. With a show of strength, he rolled them over to Alec was on top of him and bared his neck to him. Alec started moving his hips, determined to make the alpha feel as good as he had felt just seconds before. 

When he felt Magnus was about to climax, he bit into the alpha’s neck. Magnus growled out his name, holding his hips into a bruising, near-painful grip, but Alec reveled in it. Knowing the bruises on his hips would mark him as Magnus, just as the mating bite on his neck would. 

When Magnus had spent himself in Alec, Alec let himself fall forward on top of Magnus. The alpha’s arms came around to cradle him in his embrace and Alec felt tears trickle slowly down his cheeks when he let himself feel everything. He could feel the bond with Magnus snapping into place, could feel Magnus’s happiness and love complementing his own. 

It was truly overwhelming to think about the fact that someone willingly chose Alec to be his. That Magnus chose Alec _forever_. 

“Are you all right my love?”, Magnus whispered while he carded his fingers through Alec’s messy hair. Alec couldn’t do anything more than nod. He exhaled a little shakily while he tried to speak around the lump in his throat. “They’re happy tears”, he ensured Magnus. 

Magnus pressed a kiss to the side of his head, rolling them over so they were facing each other. “I never thought I’d get to have this with someone”, he told Alec while he played with his fingers. “You make me so happy”, he added. Alec knew, he could feel it. “I love you”, he whispered and pulled Magnus into his arms. 


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for all the support on the previous chapters! Here's another one!

After spending four days locked away inside Magnus’s loft, Alec’s heat had passed. Remembering the pain his body had to go through when he suffered through them alone, he had kind of hoped he would be spared the pain this time. But when he woke up on the fifth day, the first thing he noticed was that he hurt. Everywhere. It wasn’t the same kind of all-consuming burning kind of pain he was used to. This time he hurt from overusing his muscles doing far more pleasurable activities then he was used to during a heat. 

He groaned and tried to turn around, but a sharp stab of pain in his lower back held him back. 

“Perhaps we were a little over zealous that last round”, he heard Magnus’s voice coming from the doorway. 

“Yeah, well it wasn’t my idea to try out the entire Kama Sutra in one night”, Alec grumbled. 

Magnus chuckled and moved over to the bed, crawling in beside Alec. “I didn’t hear you complain last night, love”, he said while he clicked his fingers, making the pain disappear, leaving only a dull memory of it. 

Alec turned over properly, facing Magnus. “Thanks”, he said with a fond smile. Magnus waved away his words with a flick of his wrist. “It’s nothing darling, what an awful alpha would I be if I left my omega in pain”, Magnus said with a flourish. 

His omega. Alec felt giddy all over when he heard Magnus call him that and he felt Magnus’s joy reflect back through the bond. It was something he would have to get used to now. Alec’s hand unconsciously wandered over to the mark on his neck and he saw Magnus’s eyes turn soft at the gesture. 

Alec still couldn’t believe that Magnus was his. If someone had told him a year ago that he would be mated to the High Warlock of Brooklyn, he would have declared them crazy. Never in a million years would he have believed that someone as powerful and magical as Magnus, would want him. Now he could see how the Clave’s old-fashioned ways and his parent’s disdain for who and what he was, had clouded his mind and had formed his judgement. He still didn’t love himself, far from, and there were days when he still wondered about the meaning of his life. But it became bearable and he had something to look forward now. Someone to come home to, to help him take his mind of the negative aspects of his days. On the last day of his heat, Alec and Magnus had relaxed in the bath together, Alec’s back pressed firmly to Magnus’s chest and Alec had never felt that much at peace in his whole life. 

Alec got up out of the bed and followed Magnus into the kitchen. “What are your plans for today love?”, Magnus asked him over a cup of coffee. 

“Nothing much”, Alec shrugged, “Unless there are some demons out there with other plans”. Magnus gave him a look that clearly stated he didn’t enjoy it when Alec joked about demons. 

“Please take your safety seriously Alexander”, Magnus chided him. “I wouldn’t survive if something happened to you”, he added and Alec could see fear in his alpha’s eyes. He put down his cup and moved over to where Magnus was standing, wrapping his arms around his waist and burying his head in his neck. 

“I’m sorry”, he mumbled into Magnus’s skin. “Would it make you feel better if you could portal me in?”, he asked. Magnus thought about it and silently nodded his head. “That way I can at least be sure you got there in one piece”, he said. Alec released him and gave him a chaste kiss on the lips. “If it makes you feel better, then I’m all for it”, he said with a smile.

Magnus looked at him longingly and sighed. “I still don’t know what I did to deserve you”, he said, making Alec blush. “I’m not sure I’m the prize in this relationship”, he answered Magnus, making the alpha tut at him. “Give yourself some credit Alexander”, he chided. 

After they enjoyed the rest of their breakfast, Magnus made Alec a portal that took his straight into the Ops Center of the Institute. When he stepped out of it, he got a lot of stares because it wasn’t everyday that a Shadowhunter portalled into the Institute after all. 

One of those who looked up when he entered was Izzy. When he got close enough for her to see his mating bite, she squaled and ran over to him, wrapping him up in a too tight hug.

“Can’t breathe Iz”, Alec wheezed out. 

“Sorry, but I’m so happy for you!”, Izzy yelled, still holding onto him. “I can’t believe I get to keep you forever now!”, she added and Alec saw tears form in her eyes. 

Izzy had thought long and hard about mating with Simon, knowing well that it would mean she would then share Simon’s immortality. It also meant she would have to watch her brothers grow old and die, leaving her behind forever unchanging. Now that Alec had mated to an immortal as well, they could hold on to each other as support when they watched their loved ones age. 

“I know”, Alec murmured into her hair while he rubbed circles into her back. 

“So, tell me everything”, Izzy gushed. When she saw Alec’s disgusted face, she slapped his arm. “Not _that_ everything. Get you mind out of the gutter big brother. I mean, how do you feel now you’re mated?”, she asked excitedly. 

Alec thought about how different he felt now that he was mated to Magnus. “I- It’s, It’s a lot”, he said. “It’s like I feel all these things and then on top of them, I feel everything Magnus is feeling. I- Let’s just say I feel a lot”, he tried to explain. 

“I know”, Izzy said dreamily. “It’s the best isn’t it?”, she added. 

Alec couldn’t help the wide smile that appeared on his face when he answered. “Yeah it is”. 

  


Two weeks after he officially mated with Magnus, they were lying on the couch watching some Mundane show on the television. Magnus was stroking his fingers through Alec’s hair and Alec almost purred from contentment. 

Just when he felt his eyes droop closed, his cellphone started vibrating in his pants pocket. Sighing, he took it out to see who was disturbing his lovely night in. It was Jace. 

“This better be good Jace”, he answered the phone, “You’re disturbing my nap”. 

He heard Jace sighing on the other end of the line. “Underhill is gone”, he said. 

Alec sat up straighter at the news. Underhill was a newly appointed Shadowhunter in the Institute. He had been transferred from Idris only two weeks ago. And he was an omega. 

“Gone?”, Alec replied. “What do mean gone?”. 

Magnus looked at him questioningly and Alec put his phone on speaker. “Jace, you’re on speaker”, he said. “Hi Magnus”, Jace said as a way of greeting. “Jace”, Magnus replied. They still weren’t the closest friends. 

“About three hours ago Raj and Bat returned to the Institute”, Jace launched into the story. “They were out on patrol with Underhill. They encountered eight Ravener demons and were in the process of eliminating them when a portal opened up near them. Iris Rouse stepped out and froze Bat and Raj with some form of magic. She said something to the demons in a language they couldn’t understand and at her sign they advanced on Underhill. He tried to fight them off but he didn’t stand a chance and they knocked him out. Bat and Raj were forced to watch how he was dragged through the portal. Only when the portal closed after Iris had stepped through too, were they able to move again”. 

After Jace’s relay of the evening, Alec’s blood ran cold. They had taken another one. A Shadowhunter. One of his own. Magnus laid his hand on his back in support and the warmth and closeness of his alpha managed to calm him down a little bit. 

“Are we searching for him?”, Alec asked. He heard Jace hesitate. 

“Look Alec, I”. 

“Are we searching for him, yes or no Jace?”, Alec gritted out. 

“No”, Jace said. “Mom and Dad returned from Idris this morning and they have taken over the Institute. I’m not officially appointed Head so technically the Institute is still under their reign. They told us that we wouldn’t waste time and manpower on searching for one omega”. 

Alec couldn’t sit still any longer so he stood up and started pacing though the room. 

“How are they going to explain this to the Clave? To Underhill’s parents or family?”, Magnus asked incredulously. “They can’t just refuse to search for someone who was taken under their watch, knowing full well that somewhere something horrible is probably happening to him”. 

Alec laughed a humorless laugh. “The Clave doesn’t care about omegas Magnus. They probably think he’s serving a better purpose spreading his legs for a horde of demons than as a Shadowhunter”.

He couldn’t help letting the self-loathing he felt penetrate his voice. He didn’t even wonder whether his parents would think or act differently when he was the one who was taken. He knew they wouldn’t search for him either, blood or not. 

“I’m coming over, I’m not going to sit here and do nothing while he’s out there suffering”, Alec told Jace. He was already shrugging on his leather jacket and looking around for his stele. 

Magnus put his hand on his shoulder. “Please be careful”, he told him and handed him his stele. “I need you to be safe Alexander”, he pleaded. 

Alec didn’t say anything. He couldn’t promise Magnus that everything would be all right when he knew there always was a chance of something bad happening. He’d seen it happen to often. “I’ll try to make it back to you”, he said instead. 

When he turned around to search for his bow and arrows, he heard Magnus say to Jace “You’d better deliver him back to me in one piece Blondie”. “Don’t worry, I’ve got his back”, Jace replied. 

Alec kissed Magnus once before he touched his hand to Magnus’s mating mark, Magnus doing the same to him. “Be careful”, Magnus said before Alec turned around and left the building. 

He met up with Jace at the Institute and they searched the whole night, to no avail. Tired, cold and distraught, Alec made his way back home and let Magnus console him as best as he could. 

  


Two more weeks passed and Alec spent almost every free moment on his search for Underhill, and by extension the other missing omegas. A couple of days after Underhill was taken, it had occurred to him that before someone he personally knew was taken, he hadn’t been this determined to find them. It made him feel even more guilty towards the other, unknown, omegas. It felt like they weren’t worth as much as Underhill. 

Alec sighed and looked around. He had been walking the streets for hours now, not really knowing what he was looking for. Jace had gone back to the Institute half an hour earlier, saying he should go home to Magnus. They did everything they could. 

Objectively, Alec knew that. But he couldn’t stop searching. Maybe he could find something, anything, that could lead him to them. Right now he was walking around the area where Underhill had gone missing. He thought that maybe he could find something there that he could maybe use to track him.

He had just rounded a corner when three Ravener demons appeared in front of him. Great, Alec thought. He was already tired and now he had to fight three demons on his own. Luckily, this time he had his bow with him so he quickly notched an arrow and let it fly, hitting the first demon right in the eye. It shrieked in pain and vanished in a cloud of black smoke. 

Already aiming the second arrow towards the next demon, Alec froze when he saw a portal opening behind them and Iris Rouse stepping out. 

_No, no, no, no_ , he thought. _This couldn’t be happening, no, no, Magnus!_ He tried frantically to connect to his alpha through their bond, but Magnus was probably sleeping so he wouldn’t react as fast as normally. 

Iris waved her hand and Alec felt his muscles lock in place. He tried lifting his arm, but it wouldn’t budge. _No, no, no, no._ His heartrate picked up and his breathing came out harshly. 

“Hello little omega”, Iris Rouse said while she smiled at him. “You’ll do just nicely”, she said while she turned around to walk back through the portal, gesturing to the demons with her hand. 

Alec’s heart was racing and he thought it would explode from his chest any minute now. He saw the demons make their way over to him, in his head still pleading for Magnus to come, for Magnus to save him.

I’m sorry Magnus, he thought, before the demons grabbed him. Everything went black when they dragged him through the portal. 


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys, I'm really sorry for the delay in updates but my work schedule has been crazy.  
> I've managed to write a little bit though so I'm already posting this. I'll try to write the rest soon.   
> This chapter will be both from Magnus's and Alec's POV.

Magnus was standing in his apothecary mixing a potion for a Seelie. He was humming to himself, his mind wandering to the past few days. He had mixed this particular potion thousands of times before so it didn’t really require his full attention. 

A small smile appeared on his face as he thought about how Alec had woken him up in the morning with breakfast in bed. He really was the most lucky alpha on the planet to have found an omega as amazing as Alexander. 

He sighed and looked at the clock hanging above the door. Five PM, three more hours, he tried to reassure himself. 

He never liked it when Alec was out on patrol, certainly not with an omega-hunting warlock on the loose. As if the demons on their own weren’t enough to worry about, he thought to himself. Now they had mated, he had the bond between them to keep him from worrying too much. If there ever was a problem, Magnus would almost immediately feel it and he would be able to track Alec. 

Focusing his attention back to the potion, he frowned when he noticed the color was a little more purple then it should have been. He poured it into a flask and held it up at eye level to inspect it closer, when a surge of panic coming through the bond made him drop it. He gasped and had to hold onto the table to keep himself from falling over. 

When another surge hit him, this time stronger then before, he groaned and doubled over, clutching his stomach. “Alexander”, he managed to grit out, already sending tendrils of magic out to track his omega. 

Something was wrong, he had to get to Alec. When he felt his magic make contact with Alec, he swirled his hands in front of him to create a portal. Taking deep breaths to try and calm himself down, he made his way over to the portal, ignoring his cellphone ringing in his pocket. “I’m coming Alexander”, he muttered. 

When he stepped out of the portal, he noticed he was in an industrial looking part of town. He looked around and noticed there were a lot of abandoned buildings and what appeared to be a couple of construction sites. What he didn’t see, was his omega. 

Frustrated he sent out his magic again to try and find him through the bond. He closed his eyes in concentration, pushing his magic out in front of him. 

“Where are you”, he said. Every time he felt like he was getting closer to Alexander, something pushed him farther away again. Shouting in frustration, Magnus pushed his magic out forcefully, making a nearby heap of bricks collapse. 

Just when he had almost reached Alec again, his phone started ringing again. Cursing he grabbed his phone and answered without looking who was calling. 

“What?”, he practically growled out. Anyone who dared to disturb him in his search for his omega didn’t deserve his kindness. 

“Magnus”, he heard Isabelle’s voice. Hearing the voice of his omega’s sister calmed Magnus down a little bit. 

“Isabelle dear, I’m kind of in the middle of something. Is this an important call?”, he asked her, not wanting to alarm her. 

“I think so, since Jace is clutching his parabatai rune like crazy. Where is Alec?”, she said and Magnus could detect a hint of panic in her voice. 

“I think this is a conversation we’d best hold in person I’m afraid”, Magnus sighed. “Stay where you are, I’m coming over”, he added. Looking around once more with a growing sense of despair, Magnus created yet another portal to the New York Institute. 

When he stepped out of the portal, he noticed Izzy already coming over towards where he was standing. 

“What happened?”, she asked him worriedly. Magnus could tell she was trying to hold it together. 

“I don’t know”, he sighed while he rubbed his face, not caring that he was probably smudging all his make-up. “I was working at home when all of a sudden I felt his panic through the bond. I tried tracking him but something is blocking me”. 

Izzy nodded her head. “That’s exactly what happened with Jace too”, she sighed. She took him by the arm and led him towards the living quarters. They entered Jace’s bedroom and Magnus noticed the blonde Shadowhunter was pacing up and down the room while Clary stood by looking helpless. Jace was clutching his hip, where his parabatai rune was branded into his flesh. 

“We’ve got to find him Magnus”, he said when he noticed the warlock. 

Nodding, Magnus held out his hand to the other alpha. Now was not the time for territorial disputes or competitions over power. Clasping Jace’s hand firmly in his own, Magnus combined his power with Jace’s in the hope together they could find Alec. 

  


When Alec blinked his eyes, he was lying on the floor in a windowless room. The floor, walls and ceiling were all in the same color, which made Alec assume he was in some sort of basement. He was lying in the middle of a circle and Iris Rouse was standing in front of him. 

“Ah, you’re up”, she said with a devilish smile. “Let’s examine the goods, shall we?”, she added. 

With a snap of her fingers, Alec felt his clothes disappear and he tried to cover himself up with his arms. Iris tutted and clicked her fingers again, holding his arms in place next to his body. 

With an almost medical interest, Iris looked over his body. She muttered to herself and Alec only understood a few words “good physique … looks healthy … nurtured. He didn’t like where this was going at all. 

When Iris’s prying eyes got to his neck however, he saw her eyes widening and she pursed her lips. She turned around to where the demons were still lurking and flung them against the wall. 

“You brought me a mated one?”, she almost shrieked. 

In an instant she cowered over Alec and pressed her palm against his mating bite. He tried to flinch back, but her magic held him in place. Alec felt a cold wave pass through his body and when she lifted her palm again, he couldn’t feel Magnus anymore. Rage boiled up inside of him and he tried lashing out, tried screaming at her but he couldn’t do anything. Iris straightened herself up and laughed when she saw the murderous look he was throwing her way. 

“Can’t have your mate tracking you here, now can we?”, she said while she resumed her examination of his body. 

Alec was frantically trying to find a way out of this situation now that he couldn’t count on his bond with Magnus anymore.

_Jace_ , he thought suddenly. Jace would be able to track him too, if Iris didn’t discover he had a parabatai. 

He focused all his energy towards his bond with Jace, which albeit weaker than the one he had with Magnus, could still work. He tried to make a connection with Jace by sending out distress signals. 

Just when he thought he could feel Jace respond, Iris screamed in frustration again. “You brought me one with a parabatai too!”, she screamed and threw fireballs at the demons. “You useless demon spawn!”, she cried while she banished the demons back to Edom.

Repeating her blocking spell with his parabatai rune, Alec felt that connection disappear too. 


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! I'm really sorry it's taking me so long to update. Work is crazy busy.... I'm trying really hard to finish the story. We're almost there, I think I'll need about 3 chapters or something and it's finished. I hope you're still enjoying the story. I've written a new chapter, it's not that long but I hope you like it!

“This isn’t working!”, Jace exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air in frustration. 

Magnus sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers. “You’re not helping”, he gritted out between his teeth. 

They had been trying to track Alec for the past two days to no avail. Magnus had been sure that it would work, combining his mating bond and Jace’s parbatai bond but they kept hitting a wall. Jace started pacing again, like he had been doing for the last half hour. Isabelle was standing to the side of the room and Magnus couldn’t face her again. She had been looking at them with such a hopeful expression every time they tried tracking, Magnus couldn’t stomach it anymore to be the one to tell her it failed. Again. 

He tried to keep his own frustration and despair at bay, but the longer he was separated from his mate, the harder it got. Where was Alec? What was happening to him at the moment? Magnus couldn’t handle not knowing whether he was ok. The only thing that kept him going was the fact that Jace’s rune was still present. The only indication that Alec was still alive. Magnus was just about to ask Jace whether they should call it a night or keep trying when Clary came running.

“I think I found it!”, she exclaimed with a glee in her eyes. 

“Found what?”, Izzy asked stepping closer. 

“A way for you to find Alec”, Clary said practically bouncing up and down. Jace stopped pacing and came closer too. “What is it?”, he asked. 

Clary held up a piece of paper with a rune drawn on it. Magnus wasn’t an expert on runes, but even he could see that the rune on Clary’s paper wasn’t one he had seen before.

“What rune is that?”, he asked while he took the paper from Clary, studying the rune a little closer. 

“A new one”, Clary said a little proud. Magnus looked up at her with his eyebrows raised. “A new one?”, he asked.

Jace and Izzy shot each other a look, communicating like only siblings can. Jace nodded once. “Clary can create new runes”, Izzy said simply. 

Magnus looked at Clary, mind boggled. He hadn’t ever heard of a Shadowhunter who could create new runes. “I’m going to need you to explain that a little more”, he said slowly, looking between the three Shadowhunters. 

Clary smiled a little hesitantly at him. “I can create new runes”, she said. “I see them in my head and when I draw them, they always work. I created one that makes you shoot sunlight from your hand, for example. Really handy when you come across a Vampire. Or a demon”, she smiled. 

Magnus still couldn’t wrap his head around this, but he smiled back at her. “I can see that”, he said. 

“How is this going to help Alec?”, Jace asked. 

“Well, I created an Alliance rune”, Clary said as if that explained it all. When she saw everyone was just staring at her, she cleared her throat and motioned to the rune on the paper. “When I draw this on you and Jace, your powers will be joined so hopefully your tracking will also become more powerful”, she explained. Magus was staring at her dumbfounded. This was possible? 

“That could work”, Izzy said excitedly. Jace was looking at the drawing a little skeptically. “Are you sure this will work? And are you sure we wouldn’t end up, like, entwined forever? No offence Magnus”, he said, smiling at Magnus a little apologetic. 

Magnus didn’t take offence since Jace had just voiced his own thoughts. 

“I’m pretty sure it will work just fine”, Clary said. 

“Pretty sure?”, Jace asked incredulously. Magnus put his hand on Jace’s shoulder. “I think we should try this, even though we’re not sure it will work out. I mean, what other choice do we have? Tracking him the normal way obviously isn’t working”, he sighed. “I can’t be without Alec for much longer”, he added looking at Jace pleadingly. 

Jace still looked doubtful but nodded. Magnus sighed in relief and turned to Clary. “How do we do this biscuit?”, he asked. “You do know that Downworlders can’t wear runes on their skin, right?”, he added as an afterthought. He hoped she’d thought this through because he certainly didn’t felt like he wanted to burn when they carved the symbol in his skin. 

“You can wear this one”, she promised. 

Eying her a little weary, Magnus offered her his arm. He couldn’t help the little flinch when she pressed the point of her stele against the skin of his forearm. He clenched his eyes shut but when he didn’t feel anything he glanced carefully at his arm. It was still attached, that was a good start. It also wasn’t burned. 

“Jace, you’re up”, Clary exclaimed happily. She was enjoying this way too much, Magnus thought. 

While Clary marked Jace, Magnus took a closer look at the rune. He always had envied Alec’s runes a little bit. They made him look dangerous and sexy. Now he had one himself and he secretly hoped it would remain visible on his skin.

Suddenly he felt a rush of power flow through him, making him a little unsteady on his feet and he knew Jace’s rune was also drawn. “Wow”, they both said at the same time. 

Magnus turned to Jace and saw blue flames lick up his arms. Jace was looking at them with wide eyes. “This is so cool”, he whispered, trying to touch the flames. Magnus also felt incredible. He felt all of Jace’s Shadowhunter powers run through him: strength, agility, flexibility. He felt undefeatable. 

“This is something, I must admit that. Well done biscuit”, Magnus said with a smile.

“Come on, come on, start tracking him again!”, Isabelle said impatiently. With renewed hope, Magnus and Jace clasped hands once again.

Come on Alec, where are you?

  


When Alec woke up, he didn’t know where he was at first. He looked around and noticed he was in a cage. A small one, since he couldn’t even stand up in it. He still had his pants, but the rest of his clothes were gone, leaving him bare chested and bare footed. 

He looked around and saw the wall was lined with dozens of cages, all containing people. Omegas, Alec guessed. Some were sleeping, but most were sitting up, staring in front of them with unseeing eyes. Alec could see three of them were caressing swollen bellies with their hands. He felt sick watching it. 

“Alec?”, he heard a voice say. Whipping his head to the side, he couldn’t believe his eyes. 

“Underhill?”, he asked surprised. 

“Hi”, the shadowhunter said with a wave. He looked much skinier than he had at the Institute, Alec thought. 

“I’m so sorry we haven’t been able to find you”, Alec said immediately. That we weren’t allowed to find you, he added in his head. 

“It’s not a problem”, Underhill said. “I know I’m not top propriety”, he added with a bitter smile. 

Alec didn’t know how he could answer him so he just stayed silent. “What is this place?”, he asked after a while. 

“A breeding center”, Underhill sighed. “Iris keeps unmated omegas here and let’s demons impregnate them in order to create more warlocks”. 

Alec couldn’t even process everything he said. The thought alone made him sick. “Wait, did you say unmated?”, Alec asked. 

“Yeah, why?”, Underhill responded frowning. “I have a mate”, Alec said. Why did the demons take him? 

“Oh, Iris isn’t going to be happy about that”, Underhill said with a sly smile. “I bet she needs new demons now”, he added grinning. 

Alec frowned. “Why are you happy about this?”, he asked. 

“When the demons make a mistake, like bringing you, Iris usually kills them”, Underhill said with a shrug. Alec nodded, remembering Iris’s wrath. “Yeah, she did. But why are you so happy about dead demons?”, he asked. 

“My heat is coming up”, Underhill simply said. 

Oh. _Oh_. Alec did not want to know what would happen if the demons hadn’t been dead. 

“I don’t want to become a father yet”, Underhill said miserably. “And it’s not like we get to keep the babies. Once you’re pregnant, Iris puts a spell on you to make you pliable. That’s why _they_ are like _that_ ”, he said, motioning to the pregnant omegas. “Once the baby is born, Iris takes it away to be raised in the warlock community. The omegas here usually don’t survive having their baby taken away from them”, he concluded. 

Alec couldn’t bear the sadness he heard in Underhill’s voice. “I haven’t even found my mate yet”, he whispered and Alec saw a tear slip down his face.

“I’m so sorry”, Alec said even though he knew his words didn’t make a difference. Underhill shrugged his shoulders and hugged his knees to his chest. 

“Who’s your mate?”, he asked Alec, trying to distract him from the horrible reality he was living in. 

“Magnus Bane”, Alec answered and even he heared the dreamy sigh in his voice. 

“The High Warlock of Brooklynn? That Magnus Bane?” Underhill asked with wide eyes. 

Alec just nodded. He was used to people reacting to Magnus’s name like that. “I can’t feel him though. I think Iris did something to my mating bond. And to my parabatai rune too”, he added. 

Underhill suddenly burst out laughing. “Oh my god, they brought her a mated omega with a parabatai?”, he choked out. “She must have been furious!” 

Alec couldn’t help but smile a little. “Yeah”, he giggled. “Yeah, she was pretty mad, I’ll give you that”.

When they both stopped laughing, Alec looked at Underhill. “Magnus will get us out, I know he will”, he promised. 

Come on Magnus, where are you? 


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Here's another chapter. sorcry for the wait. I hope you like it!

Alec didn’t know how long he had been locked up in the cage, but according to the dull pain in both his legs, it wasn’t a short amount. Alec guessed they were locked up somewhere under ground, because there were no windows in the room. Either that, or Iris had put up a glamour to hide them. 

Alec didn’t like it, he wasn’t able to track the passing of time by the movements of the sun. It left him feeling completely out of control. 

So far, Iris hadn’t come back to see him. He had seen other omegas being dragged from their cages to God knows where to do God knows what. Some of them hadn’t even returned. The ones who did looked like hell. 

For lack of a better word, Alec was glad he had Underhill to keep him company. The absence from his mate was becoming near unbearable, but the company of the other omega helped a little. 

Alec knew Magnus was probably worried out of his mind by now. He kept trying to send signals through his mating bond and through his parabatai rune, but both signals were still blocked. He groaned in frustration when another message backfired into him. 

“You’re only frustrating yourself by keeping up with that”, Underhill said while he remained in his mediation pose. Apparently, meditation helped Underhill to keep calm. Alec had tried it once, but ended up even more frustrated then before.

“I have to keep doing _something_ ”, Alec replied, kicking against the cage again. Trying to break the cage was another one of his pursuits in here. 

Underhill cracked one eye open and looked at Alec. Alec was taken aback by the vulnerability in his gaze. “Do you think they’ll find you?”, he asked silently. 

You. Not us. Alec’s heart broke for the blonde shadowhunter who apparently didn’t have any hope left that someone out there was looking for _him_. 

“I’m”, Alec started and cleared his throat. “I’m sure Magnus and Jace are trying their best to get to us”, he said. He really believed it too, but it was really hard to cling to that hope when he saw where he was. 

He was just about to try and convince Underhill to keep up his faith, when a door at the end of the room opened up. One of Iris’s demons came crawling through and stalked along the cages. 

Both Alec and Underhill tensed and moved to the back of their cages. When the demon passed Alec’s cage, it sniffed the air curiously and paused, tilting his head to the side. Alec held his breath and willed the demon to keep going. After a moment, the demon continued walking and Alec let out the breath he had been holding. 

He looked over at Underhill, who was staring ahead at the demon, now looking into his cage. He saw Underhill swallow hard and saw his hands were beginning to tremble. 

Tentatively Alec breathed in deeply, trying to get a read on Underhill’s scent. The other omega had told him his heat was approaching and Alec could already smell it, albeit faintly. It looked like the demon could smell it too, because it grew restless in front of Underhill’s cage. Underhill tried to push himself even further against the back of his cage when the demon reached inside. A whimper made its way out and Alec saw a tear slip down his face. 

“Go away”, Alec shouted at the demon. “Leave us alone”. The demon turned his eyeless face towards Alec and crawled back towards his cage. 

Alec was just calculating how much strength he would have to use to rip one of the demons arms off, when the door opened for a second time and Iris walked in. 

“Heel”, she commanded and the demon slithered towards her and kneeled at her feet like some sick version of a puppy. “Good boy”, Iris cooed. 

She looked over towards Alec and Underhill. “Do you like those?”, she asked the demon in some sort of baby language that made Alec sick. She walked over closer and peered down into the cages. “Ah, you must like this one”, she said while she looked at Underhill. “Only a couple more days and you’ll get your toy”, she said while she petted her demon. 

Underhill stared back at her with wide eyes and couldn’t stop whimpering. The scent of his fear filling the cage and surrounding area. 

“Why are you doing this to us?”, Alec asked loudly, making Iris turn her attention back to him. 

“Did I give you permission to speak?”, she asked haughtily, “but to answer your question. For centuries, warlocks have been persecuted, hunted by others. Their numbers diminished and our people living in fear. This has to stop. We need to rise up and claim our rightful place in society. Other kinds will bow down to our superiority. Shadowhunters will bow down to us in fear. And you, my darling pets, will play a vital role in providing the necessary warlocks for us.”, she said with a wicked gleam in her eyes. 

She was nuts, Alec thought. “You know you’ll never get away with this right?”, he taunted her. “People are looking for us everywhere. It’s just a matter of time before they find us”, he added. 

“They can try”, Iris said with a superior smile before she walked away, the demon still crawling at her feet. 

  


Alec woke up to a whimper. 

He didn’t know how long he had been sleeping, since there was no way to tell time in this place. He looked around and saw Underhill was sleeping too, but he was sweating profoundly and whimpering in his sleep. 

Oh no, Alec thought, looking around the room in panic. Underhill was in heat. He frantically tried to think of a way out of this and started to kick his cage again. 

The other omegas looked at him with blank stares. 

“Come _on_!”, he shouted at them, “How can you just sit there and watch this? Why don’t you fight back?”. 

They all just kept staring at him, so he resumed his kicking with a frustrated scream. 

After a while he had to give up, feeling his strength leave him fast. He debated whether to wake up Underhill or not, when the other omega blinked his fever-ridden eyes open. He groaned and tried to sit up, only to curl back up into fetal position with a whimper. 

Alec tried to stretch his arm out far enough to touch him, but he couldn’t quite make it. “I’m sorry”, he whispered to his fellow omega. 

Underhill just looked at him and Alec couldn’t help but feel like he had given up. Anger raged inside of him. He would not let another omega become one of those blankly staring zombies with no will to live left. 

He tried sending another message through his mating bond to Magnus and was almost prepared for the backlash, but to his surprise, the message went through. He felt Magnus’s response and he could cry in relief. Magnus was sending him feelings of hope and determination, of his undying love for Alec. Alec sobbed quietly, hoping Magnus would get there fast enough. 

With an ominous creak, the door to the cellar opened up and Iris walked in, making Alec’s breathing pick up. Iris took one sniff of the air and whipped her head towards Underhill. 

“Excellent”, she purred happily, clapping her hands. “My demon will be pleased with his companion for the night”. 

She started walking towards Underhill and Alec didn’t think before he shouted “Take me”. Iris stopped and looked at Alec curiously. “You would offer yourself up in his place?”, she asked him surprised. “Yes”, Alec said desperately . “Just leave him be and I’ll go willingly”. 

He knew Magnus would understand. He hoped Magnus would understand. 

Iris shrugged her shoulders and retrieved the key to his cage. She bound his hands and feet together magically and opened up the cage, dragging Alec out by his elbow. When she had him out, she dragged him after her. Looking over her shoulder, she added “It’s not like his heat will only last one day, right”. Laughing out loud she ignored Alec’s pleas and screams, dragging him along with her. 

  


When she let go of him, they were in a similar room as the cellar, only without cages. Alec shuffled to his feet and tried to think of a way to get out of his bonds.

Iris pressed a button in the wall and a hatch opened up, allowing the demon to crawl it’s way in. Alec struggled against his bindings with everything he had, but they didn’t budge. 

When the demon crawled it’s way closer to him, he stepped back until his back was pressed up against the wall. The demon crawled even closer, making Alec retch from the stench emanating from it. 

When the demon was within touching distance however, it stopped. Alec peered through his closed eyes and saw the demon sniffing the air. 

“I know he’s not in heat, but it can’t hurt to have a little fun”, Iris said impatiently. 

But the demon started backing away, like he had lost all interest in Alec. 

“What are you doing?”, Iris demanded, but the demon just crawled back through the hatch. 

Alec didn’t get it either, but he wasn’t going to complain. Iris marched over to him, looking equally confused as angry. “Why isn’t he touching you”, she muttered to herself. “Could it be…”, she said while she flicked her wrist and a pale yellow light scanned Alec from head to toe. 

Iris shrieked in frustration and actually stomped her foot on the ground. If he weren’t in such a precarious position, Alec would have laughed. 

“Stupid, incapable demons”, Iris muttered under her breath, “bringing me a pregnant omega”. 

Wait what? Alec stared at her dumbfounded. Pregnant? Could he be? A whole barrage of emotions rushed through him; happiness, love, doubt, fear. Fear won out when he realized the position he was in. Would she hurt his unborn child? It was a strange realization to know that he already loved this child, even though he didn’t even know it was there a minute ago. 

A strong will to protect rose up in Alec and he snarled at Iris, wrestling against his bonds even more. “Oh hush”, Iris said and waved her hand at Alec, making him go immobile. 

“I can’t let you go, now can I?”, Iris asked Alec while she started pacing in front of him. “And I can’t just hold you here until you give birth, because that would mean you’re useless for nine months, at least”, she added. 

Alec followed her pacing, sending out pulse after pulse of fear through his bond with Magnus. _Help me. Come now. I need you._

“There’s really no other way”, Iris sighed and stepped closer to Alec, a sphere of yellow magic glowing in her hand. Alec felt his breathing speed up when he realized what she was about to do and he tried to fight, tried to scream. Tears streamed out of his eyes when he tried desperately to keep her from killing his baby. 

She stepped even closer and held up her hand. “I really don’t want to do this, you know, but you don’t give me a choice”, she said almost apologetically. 

She brought her hand down and Alec closed his eyes, expecting pain. When the pain didn’t come, he opened his eyes and found Iris was no longer there, but instead she was pinned against the ground in front of him by a blue dome of magic. 

Alec would recognize that magic anywhere. _Magnus_ , he thought relieved. 


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the delay in updates! It's been crazy busy, but I finished it! I'm not 100% happy with this chapter, but I've editted it so many times already and I keep feeling like it's not quite right. This is the final chapter for the fic. I'm still thinking about adding an epilogue, but I'm not sure whether I'll do it.   
> I want to thank all of you for reading this fic and sticking with me even though I'm horrible at keeping up with my own schedule. The comments really made my day everytime.   
> I have a couple of more ideas for other fics, but I think the first one will be a sequel to Drop it low, since a lot of you asked for that :)

“I felt him!”, Magnus exclaimed after trying to track Alec with the new Alliance rune drawn on them. He did feel Alec, although it was very faint. Almost as if there was a lot of static on the line. 

“I didn’t”, Jace frowned. “Let’s try again”, Isabelle urged them. 

They clasped hands for what felt like the millionth time and Magnus focused al his energy in finding his mate. When he felt Alec, he almost sagged with relief, but he willed himself to focus. He could feel Jace reestablished his connection with Alec too, because he seemed to be having difficulty focusing as well. 

Magnus knew a parabatai connection wasn’t as strong and all-encompassing like a mating bond, but it was a close second. Before they mated, he’d had long conversations with Alec about his parabatai bond with Jace. Mating with Magnus essentially meant that Alec became immortal. Something Jace was not, so inevitably Alec would have to deal with losing Jace. Magnus had opted they just didn’t mate if it wasn’t something Alec was a hundred percent sure of. Alec had, in true Lightwood style, broke down all of Magnus’s arguments for him not to mate with Magnus. He’d told him that he’d already thought everything trough. For Alec, losing Jace was always a possibility. Every day they were out in the field, something could go wrong and he could lose Jace. What he couldn’t lose, was Magnus. It would have killed Alec to grow old while Magnus remained the same. He didn’t want to break Magnus’s heart by leaving him on this earth without him. On top of that, he couldn’t imagine not mating with Magnus when it was everything his inner omega cried out for. 

Magnus felt tears roll over his face when he felt Alec’s emotions. He was proud of his omega for feeling defiance and determination, hope, longing and most of all love. But underneath he could also sense a hint of fear and he didn’t like it one bit. 

“Jace we have to get to him. Can you get a read of where he might be?”, Magnus asked him. “I would normally be able to track him but being able to sense him again after all these days without him, I’m not sure I can focus enough to be accurate”, Magnus continued, still trying to feel as much as he could from Alec, eyes closed. 

“He’s somewhere near water”, Jace mumbled more to himself than to Magnus. “I’m seeing these big industrial type building”, he continued. 

“Maybe he’s over by the bridge”, Izzy supplied, “There’s this big industrial terrain there, but it’s been completely abandoned in recent years”. 

Magnus was just about to say that it was a possibility and they should check it out, when he felt a strong wave of sadness tinted with anger flash through the bond. It nearly knocked him over to feel these kind of negative feelings from his mate and his inner alpha howled by the thought of not being able to comfort his omega. He felt Jace stagger too. 

“What’s happening?, Izzy and Clary both asked at the same time. 

“Alec’s feeling very sad”, he heard Jace explain. 

Magnus tried to remain calm and tried to send back a message of hope and love. He sighed in relief when Alec sent back feelings of love and hope. 

“We need to go”, he said briskly, dropping Jace’s hands an creating a portal all in the same movement. 

  


They stepped out of the portal in front of a big building. They were near the canal and Magnus could smell the water. The site they were at looked like a set from a bad horror movie. Everywhere they looked they saw old, abandoned factories. Bricks were crumbling and the walls were overrun by plants. 

“Which one is it?”, Clary whispered. Magnus couldn’t blame her, they didn’t know who or what could overhear them. 

“I don’t know for sure”, Jace said. “Magnus, maybe we can try tracking him again here? Maybe we can get a better feeling closer by”, he continued.

Magnus just nodded and motioned for Jace to take his hands. They closed their eyes and focused on Alec. Magnus nearly fell down when he felt the all-consuming fear run through his mating bond. This wasn’t Alec’s normal ‘I-think-I-saw-a-spider-in-the shower’ kind of fear. This was terror. Magnus could only assume Alec’s life was in danger and it spurred him on like nothing else. 

“Jace”, he said, tone clipped. Jace just nodded an gritted his teeth, trying to ignore the stabbing in his parabatai rune. 

“He’s in a cellar”, Jace started but Magnus couldn’t hear anymore and started walking towards the door. No mate of his would be kept in a cellar. 

“Magnus”, he heard Izzy hiss behind him and three pairs of feet running behind him. “What are you doing”, Jace demanded, “you’re going to get us killed like this”. 

Magnus just levelled him with a glare. “I’m not going to stand outside while my mate is kept in a cellar, undergoing god knows what terrors”, he gritted out. “Either you’re with me or you get out of my way. _Now_ ”. 

Jace had the grace to look a little taken aback and he just nodded once. Magnus turned around without saying anything more and he started looking for the closest door. Once they located it, he blasted it open with his magic, causing three demons to turn their eyeless heads in his direction. Well, at least they were in the right place. He heard the Shadowhunters unsheathe their seraph blades, but he just flicked his wrists, causing the demons to spontaneously combust. 

“Well done”, Clary said. Magnus shrugged. “More like medium rare”. 

Without waiting for the three others, he started walking down the corridor, listening carefully for any sound. They passed several doors, but when they opened them nothing was hidden behind them. When they reached the door at the far end of the corridor, Magnus could hear faint whimpering. He threw open the doors and stopped, eyes wide. He was fairly certain his mouth had dropped open as well. 

In front of him were rows upon rows of cells, all filled with omegas. Some were heavily pregnant, others not, but all of them looked up at him with dead eyes. All but one, who heaved a great sigh of relief. 

“Thank the Angel!”, he exclaimed and tried crawling to the front of his cell. Magnus stepped forward but was immediately assaulted by omega pheromones. “He’s in heat”, he informed Jace, who had stepped forward too. A mated alpha could withstand an unmated omega’s pheromones better than an unmated alpha, but it didn’t make it truly easy to be in the vicinity to so much omega. 

“Oh my god, Underhill!”, Clary and Izzy exclaimed and rushed over to the Shadowhunter’s side. Magnus already knew Alec wasn’t there, but his eyes scanned the room anyway. 

“Where’s Alexander?”, he asked Underhill. He didn’t mean to come off as uncaring for the other omegas’ faith, but he really needed to find his mate. 

“Iris took him”, Underhill said. He was explaining something else, but Magnus was already walking out of the room again. He heard Jace say something to Izzy and Clary and followed after Magnus. 

“Magnus”, he hissed, “you need to stop running off on your own. I can’t have your back when I don’t know where your back is”. 

Magnus glanced to the side. “Why would a Shadowhunter want to have my back?”, he asked a little coldly. It was no secret that there was no love lost between Shadowhunters and Downworlders. Until Alexander off course. 

“Firstly, because my parabatai would kill me when he found out I let his mate get hurt”, Jace whispered fervently. “And second, my sister is mated to a vampire. How could you think I wouldn’t think highly of Downworlders”, Jace added. 

Magnus had to admit he had forgotten Simon was a vampire. “Noted”, he said, but he couldn’t help but feel like he had warmed up to Jace. 

  


The reached a stairway and heard voices rise up from beneath. At the same time, Magnus felt a wave of fear from Alec. It was only a whisper, since he and Jace weren’t combining their power, but that didn’t comfort Magnus since the fear Alec must be feeling would have to be immense for it to bypass the numbing spell Iris had put on him. Judging by the look on Jace’s face, he had felt it too. They looked at each other and nodded once before descending the stairway as silent as possible. 

“Stupid, incapable demons”, Magnus heard Iris mutter under her breath, “bringing me a pregnant omega”. Magnus froze mid-step when he heard hat. _Pregnant?_ Alec was pregnant? He felt the same surprise mirrored through his bond. Since he was closer to Alec he figured the numbing spell was fading. 

“I can’t let you go, now can I?”, Iris said below. A growl tried to rip its way from his throat. Someone was trying to harm his mate. His mate who was pregnant with his pup. Magnus forgot all about being silent and ran the rest of the way down, Jace in pursuit. 

When he finally saw what was happening in the room, he tried his best to not just disintegrate Iris on spot. Alec was standing completely still and he saw Iris standing in front of him, a glowing sphere poised in her hand. Rage consumed him when he let his magic leap out and knock Iris to the ground. 

“Get your hands off my omega”, he growled out, his cat-eyes glowing 

  


“Magnus”, Alec sobbed when he locked eyes with his mate. He felt his legs give out beneath him, but before he could fall to the ground, Magnus was there, holding him up. 

“Magnus”, he whispered again, trying to take in all of his mate. They had been apart for god knew how many days, but now he was really here. “I’m so sorry”, Alec said. 

Magnus caressed his face with his hand. “What are you sorry for love, I’m the one who should apologize for not getting to you earlier”, Magnus said. 

“I’m sorry for taking off on my own”, Alec said. “For not taking backup”. 

“What’s done is done”, Magnus said, “I’m just so happy to have you back in my arms”. 

Alec buried his face into Magnus’s neck, inhaling his beautiful scent. “Wanna go home”, Alec mumbled, finally letting the exhaustion claim him. 

“You just say the word love”, Magnus whispered while he stroked Alec’s back, already opening a portal with his other hand. 

  


It took Alec nearly four days to completely recover from his time in captivity. He had barely slept while he was there and the stress of the emotions had really taken a toll on him. 

The other omegas who were captured were all freed as well. Some of them had refound their normal self when they were reunited with their mates, but some remained in their trance-like state. Magnus had found it really difficult to tell Alec that, knowing his mate would feel for them and he really needed all his strength to recover right now. 

Once they were home, Magnus had also called Catarina to give Alec a proper check-up and she had proudly confirmed that Alec was indeed pregnant. She guessed he was about three weeks along, judging by the size of the pups. Plural. They were having twins. Magnus’s heart had felt like bursting since he found out. Luckily the pups were doing just fine, but to be sure Catarina had put Alec on bed rest for now.

“Magnus?”, he heard Alec calling for him from their bedroom. He quickly went in, walking over to his side of the bed to lay down with his omega. 

“I’m sorry love, I needed to escort Catarina out”, he said gently while he put a light kiss on Alec’s forehead. 

“It’s ok, I just wondered where you were when I woke up”, Alec said. 

“How are you feeling?”, Magnus inquired, although he knew Alec would try to appear to feel better than he actually was. 

“I’m”, Alec started and then sighed. “I’m getting there”, he said and Magnus was surprised at the honesty in his voice. “I still think a lot about what happened there and occasionally I have a nightmare about it too. I think about the other omegas a lot and I feel really guilty for not finding them sooner”, Alec said, while he fidgeted with his hands. 

Magnus put his hands on top of Alec’s. “Darling”, he started, but Alec shook his head. 

“I know you’re going to say it’s not my fault and I know. I’m getting there. I know I can’t be responsible for everything and if someone was responsible it’s Iris”, he said with a face of distaste, thinking back to the other Warlock who was being held by The Clave at the moment. Even though they didn’t think much about omegas, they couldn’t not react to large-scale abduction, rape and probably murder too. 

Magnus nodded at Alec. He was getting there. “Okay love, but just let me know if you need anything, right?”, he added. Alec smiled at him and nodded. 

“Do you have a little time to just be here with me?”, Alec asked. Magnus smiled and laid down, pulling Alec closer against him. 

“How does forever sound?” 


	17. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys, in popular demand I wrote an epilogue to conclude the story. It's a short chapter and it's basically all fluff, lol. I may or may not have based some of the conversation at the beginning of the chapter on my own life while I was pregnant.  
> Let me know what you think!

“Magnus, I swear by the Angel, if you don’t get your ass over here this instant”, Alec’s voice drifted through the apartment. 

Magnus resisted the urge to roll his eyes fondly at his highly-pregnant mate and finished his eyeliner with a flick of his wrist. He could have done it with magic, but he found it looked better if he did it the mundane way.

“Relax darling, I’m ready”, he said while he sauntered out of their bedroom. 

Even after nine months, it was still a thrill to call everything in the loft ‘their’. Magnus had never felt more at peace than since the day Alec had moved in with him. A peace that was now dented a little by his mate standing next to the door, tapping his foot impatiently. 

“You do not seem to get that I am currently five days late carrying _your_ pups”, Alec complained. 

“Oh so now they’re _my_ pups?”, Magnus retorted, cocking his eyebrow. 

Alec rolled his eyes so hard, Magnus thought for a seconds they would stay lodged in his skull. 

When he didn’t say anything, Alec just started tapping his foot even more insistently. “Let’s. Go.”, he gritted out and like the dutiful alpha, Magnus followed. 

  


They were going to see Cat to get an extra checkup on the babies since Alec was indeed five days late. Boy, did Magnus know he was five days late. 

During his whole pregnancy, Alec had been a dream. He never once complained, even when he was throwing up for three months straight or when he couldn’t go on missions because his blood pressure would constantly drop when he tried anything more strenuous than lying on the couch. When Magnus asked about it, he always said that he would endure anything for their pups. Except apparently, being late. 

It had never occurred to both of them that this could happen. Everything they read about twin pregnancies stated that there was a really high chance of delivering early. Even the mundane books they read said so. 

Magnus hoped Cat would give them some good news on because he didn’t think he could handle Alec being pregnant much longer. He’d adored waiting on Alec’s hand and foot and he was delighted that the Shadowhunter had actually let him. But he knew how uncomfortable Alec was at this point and he didn’t want to have his mate go through that any longer. Sleeping was getting increasingly difficult for the omega and moving around ached. They both wanted to hold their pups in their arms and be over with it already. 

  


When they arrived at Cat, on foot since portalling made Alec even more nauseated, Alec was exhausted. 

Cat opened the door wide for them and looked at Alec with a sympathetic smile. “Five days late, you’re a hero”, she said in an attempt at humor. Judging by Alec’s glare the attempt had failed. 

“Please Cat, you have to get them out of me”, Alec nearly pleaded while Cat lead him over to her couch to do the examination. Magnus gently lowered himself next to Alec and took hold of his hand. 

“Let’s see what we’re dealing with”, Cat said while she closed her eyes and let her magic envelop Alec. “They’re doing perfect”, she mumbled with a tiny smile. Off course she would want her godchildren to be healthy. 

She focused even more of her magic on Alec’s giant belly, eyes crinkling in focus. Magnus was starting to get worried and glanced over at Alec, who was also looking at Cat nervously. 

“I-Is something wrong?”, he stuttered while grabbing on to Magnus’s hand harder. 

Cat clicked her fingers and the magic disappeared back into her. “They’re ready”, she exclaimed while clapping her hands. 

Alec wrestled himself in a sitting position while opening his mouth several times, no sound coming out. “W-what do you mean ‘they’re ready’?!”, he exclaimed. “I’m not feeling anything yet”. 

“Well, you’re not into labor yet, but the twins are definitely coming out pretty soon”, she said practically bouncing on her feet. 

Magnus and Alec looked at each other dumbfounded. 

“But- but”, Magnus stammered, “but we’re not ready!”. 

Panic started rising in Magnus when he thought about all the things they hadn’t even bought yet. Alec didn’t want to jinx the pregnancy by buying stuff too much in advance because he was afraid something would go wrong and they’d have to return everything. 

“We don’t have enough clothes and we don’t have baby formula and I haven’t even childproofed the apartment! What if the Chairman gets near them and scratches them. Oh my god, what if we have to get rid of the Chairman?” Magnus babbled on. 

Alec squeezed his hand in an attempt to calm him down. “Magnus”, he soothed, “Everything will be okay”. He managed to turn himself so he was sitting in front of Magnus, running his fingers gently over his jaw. “Everything will be okay”, he repeated, soothing. 

Magnus managed to calm himself down a little. “What if…”, he swallowed hard before he whispered “What if they don’t like me?”. 

Alec smiled at him with so much love in it, it made Magnus’s heart ache. 

“They’re going to adore you”, Alec whispered back while he kissed Magnus on the lips. “You’re going to be their favorite, you know”, Alec said while he bumped his forehead against Magnus’s. “You’re going to be the fun one, while I will have to be the strict one”, he sighed almost petulantly.

That startled a laugh out of Magnus. “Well, I am pretty fun”, he said still a little shakily. 

Suddenly Alec hissed and squeezed Magnus’s hands. 

“Cat, what’s happening?”, Magnus exclaimed. Cat, who had busied herself while Magnus and Alec had shared their moment, stepped forward again. She enveloped Alec in her magic again and focused.

“It’s time”, she said with a smile. 

  


Fourteen hours later, Magnus was sitting next to Alec’s bed, looking down at the two most beautiful baby boys he’d ever seen. They were fast asleep now, but right after they were born they had startled their parents with the most amazing pair of cat-eyes. Magnus had cried, realizing he’d get to keep both his mate and their children forever. 


End file.
